Kiev - Ukraine is a paradise for motorists addicted to chatting on mobile phones and driving at the same time, and the former Soviet republic's police face an uphill battle breaking the habit.

At a busy Kiev central city intersection on a sunny autumn afternoon, phone conversations audible through open windows displayed nothing less than epidemic violation of already-existing regulations banning phone calls behind the wheel. One in 10 drivers was on his or her mobile at any given moment, a Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa reporter estimated over a half hour of observation.

A courier in his 20s warned he and his green GAZ minivan would be late, as traffic on Velika Vasilkivska street was awful. (It wasn't, really.) A stylish matron with two fingers on the wheel of a white Lexus 350 changed lanes and discussed cafe choices for lunch.

A crew-cut businessman, piloting a black Landcruiser, ignored a pedestrian crossing as he shouted about delays in an important bank transfer, in US dollars.

A cabbie steering a silver Daewoo with his knees took down the address of his next fare. An attractive young woman in a leopard-print scarf, well-coordinated with her bronze Aveo informed some unfortunate, as she negotiated a left turn, she was busy this evening.

"This is one of the worst problems of traffic we have these days, mobile phones conversations used to be exotic, but now they are one of the leading causes of accidents," said Serhy Budnik, a Ukraine traffic police (DAI) spokesman, in an interview with the Gazeta 24 television news channel.

One in four Ukrainian traffic accidents are a result of one or more motorists' driving and talking on a mobile phone. Last year saw some 60,000 Ukraine road accidents and 
8,000 deaths linked somehow to mobile phone use, according to DAI estimates.

The grisly numbers are even worse, when Ukraine is compared to other car-using nations. The overall road accident and death rates in Ukraine are per capita seven times higher than in the United States and 14 times worse than in Germany, according to Ministry of Transport statistics.

"We have no choice but to deal with the problem strictly," Budnik said. "This is a matter of national urgency."

Ukraine's government at the orders of President Viktor Yushchenko, a supporter of market and legal reforms tightening Ukrainian relations with Europe, over the summer pushed through parliament wide-reaching changes in traffic fine law. The new rules upped the current 6-dollar fine owed by any driver caught by cops talking on a mobile, to the equivalent of a minimum 70 dollars, and maximum 85 dollars, if a child happens to be in the car as well.

The new fine schedule is set to take effect on November 17, and Ukrainian Internet forums devoted to motoring already are loaded not with complaints on how the government is restricting free motorists, but rather helpful ideas on how to beat the new system.

"Turn up the volume, and hide the phone in your lap, and talk loudly," advised Sergei Skoda, a contributor to theforum. autoua. net web site. "Or toss the phone to a passenger, or even out the window. Besides, we should forget where we live, we can always just bribe the cop."

Ukraine's DAI traffic police chronically rate at or near the bottom of public trust in annual surveys. Traffic cop leadership admits corruption in the ranks is a problem, but argues new technical measures, and increased trooper salaries, will make the new traffic fine system stick and street cops honest.

Ukrainian road police will for the first time in the country's history carry cruisers digital recorders which police must have turned on while issuing a ticket, and so taking down verbatim conversations between road cops and erring motorists, according to a plan made public by DAI management earlier this month.

Actual violation of the "no mobile calls while driving rule" will be enforced by a wrinkle on the radar gun: cops will be issued with digital cameras and telephoto lenses, placing in law enforcers' hands high-resolution court-ready evidence of illicit phone use.

"Drivers can argue all they want, but it's hard to disprove a photograph," said Nina Hmelivska, an Internal Affairs Ministry spokeswoman.

Veteran motorists were however skeptical, pointing out that breaking traffic code is deeply ingrained in Ukrainian driving tradition. The net effect of Ukraine's new war against mobile phones at the wheel, would be a hike in the cost of bribes, many said.

"It is not our way to do what the authorities say," explained Viktor Chabany, a 32-year Volga owner. "They make the rules, we find ways around them." (dpa)