Remember street directories? Remember flipping through them, following a blue line from page 7, Section D8 through to page 43, Section F1, and then only to have to move on to page 115, Section B9? Often, doing this while you were driving?

In the name of safety, that’s what the NSW government wants P-platers to do again.

From 1 December, P-plate licence holders in NSW will be banned from any use of a mobile phone while driving.

That’s right – any. Not just texting. No talking – not even hands-free through a blue-tooth system in the car. No listening to music. And no using maps applications.

That the nanny-state NSW Coalition government – led by the Mike “Lock-out Laws” Baird – should make such a regulation is not surprising. But it is concerning when state governments, often keen to look like they are “doing something”, overreach in the name of safety.

Now, as the mother of one P2 driver and another soon-to-be L-plater, I appreciate measures that make our roads safer. And, as a former premier, I appreciate the near-irresistible pull of new regulations to a government.

In this case, the Baird government should have thought less about road regulations and more about the law of unintended consequences.

Sometimes a well-intentioned actions can actually create the opposite of what it is meant to achieve. Occasionally governments even figure this out before making such a decision. For example, the US government agency charged with keeping people safe on planes, the FAA, regularly refuses to ban lap-held travel for toddlers, even though it is safer for them to have their own seat.

The FAA calculates that requiring every child have their own airline seat would cause more families to drive instead of fly, due to the increased cost. But driving is riskier than flying, for everyone. The FAA calculates the unintended consequences of making babies “safer” on planes is that travel becomes more risky for everyone.

How does the law of unintended consequences work when it comes to P-plate drivers and mobile phones? Yes, using a mobile phone – even on blue-tooth – can be risky. But think about how much safer a maps application makes driving for young people. Young drivers are less likely to know how to get where they are going. They are simultaneously trying to focus on the mechanics of both driving and navigating. The maps app substantially takes care of the latter job, freeing the young person to focus on the former.

Tell me – would you rather that the P-plate driver in front of you is listening to Google Maps on his phone tell him where to turn right in 800 meters, or is looking down at the book on his lap, flipping through pages, and trying to figure out what box in the street directory grid he is currently on?

Talk about distracting. Talk about making it harder for young drivers. Talk about making the roads less safe for everyone.

The Baird government would respond that P-platers will be permitted to use GPS satellite navigation devices, just as long as they aren’t phones. Well, that’s terrific – if your family has a car that has a navigation system installed, or if you have a few hundred extra dollars to throw around.

I’d like to see Mike Baird explain to parents or young people why they should shell out $229 ($449 with internet access to get traffic information) for a satnav system to replace the exact function available on a phone for free. Or maybe he could explain to cash-strapped families why their kid is somehow safer reading a book while driving instead of listening to a maps app.

When it comes to listening to music on a phone, I’m not certain if the government is banning it because the music itself is a distraction, or because young drivers can be distracted by the phone’s music app.

What I do know is that in 2003 I met a young woman at a respite service in my electorate. She had a brain injury, acquired in a car accident that occurred when she was changing the cassette in her car’s tape player. It’s not the technology that matters; in fact, under the new laws, iPods still seem to be permitted. What matters is whether we are teaching young drivers to manage the many things that can distract them.

Maybe a good way to start instilling that lesson is to change the behaviour of adults. As the parent of an L-plate driver, I found it ironic that the law required me to be legally sober to supervise my son’s driving but I could still merrily text away while he drove (I didn’t). Talk about not paying attention to what’s happening on the road. Talk about sending all the wrong messages.

If the Baird government is going to ban P-platers from any mobile phone use, why not ban full licence holders from using phones while supervising L-plate drivers? I’ll tell you why: because such a ban would annoy adults. Governments prefer to avoid that. Politically, it’s far easier to just restrict young people’s behaviour.

The Baird government argues that such rules are necessary because new P-plate drivers die at twice the rate of all drivers, although they comprise only 10% of all drivers.

That is tragic. But that statistic masks that our roads are much, much safer today for everyone, including young drivers. It also doesn’t tell us why new drivers are more at risk.

In the past two decades, the NSW government has put the following regulations in place for young drivers: zero alcohol limits; allowing only one passenger between 11pm and 5am; loss of licence for at least three months for any speeding offence; bans on driving certain high-performance vehicles; and requiring a whopping 120 hours of supervised driving to graduate from L-plates to P-plates.

And for all drivers, the NSW government has run the “Get Your Hand Off It” campaign, highlighting the risk of driving while holding and using a mobile phone. The campaign targeted young males. The Centre for Road Safety describes the campaign as “highly successful”.

In fact, the number of road deaths per 100,000 people in NSW has dropped from 28.9 in 1970 to 4.1 in 2014. The number of people between 17-25 years old involved in fatal car accidents has also declined. In 2000, it was 169. In 2015 it was 55.

I’m guessing a lot more young drivers had mobile phones in 2015 than in 2000.

To be fair, there has been an increase in road fatalities in NSW in 2016. But the data shows that the increases have been largely in rural and regional areas, and the highest number of deaths is in the 40-59 year age group. The most common factors in fatal accidents are drugs and alcohol, speed, fatigue and distraction.

The realpolitik here is that it is easier and cheaper to put a new restriction on young people rather than invest in safer road infrastructure in regional areas, get more police out to conduct random breath tests, or install more politically unpopular mobile speed cameras.

The real mistake here is that this new restriction may just deny some young drivers the very technology that helps them be safer drivers. It does little to teach them to manage distractions. And that is really unfortunate for them, and for all of us who drive or ride on the roads with them.