A garda was on duty on Monday afternoon when a person breaking the law drove right by him, leading to an unusual chase situation.
The officer was part of the Mountain Biker unit and was on patrol in the south-east, only for a motorist to speed by.
The issue was that the driver was on his phone all the way up a busy street.
What followed was a hard chase for the garda on two wheels against the motorist on four.
A spokesperson for the Waterford/Kilkenny/Carlow division explained: "One of our Garda Mountain Bikers intercepted a motorist holding his phone while driving the length of High Street a few minutes ago.
"The motorist had actually driven past 6ft3 of Garda in high vis while on the phone prompting a far too energetic cycle at this time on a Monday morning.
"Three penalty points and a fine issued to the driver. Nice cup of tea for the Garda."
It is an offence to hold a mobile phone in your hand, or to support it with another part of your body (for example, between your head and shoulder), while driving. The only exception is if you are calling emergency services on 999 or 112.
It is an offence to access information on your phone while you are driving, even if your phone is secured into a hands-free system. You can legally talk on your phone using a hands-free system, but the Road Safety Authority advises very strongly against this.
The penalty for using your phone while driving is a fixed charge of €60, and three penalty points. This increases to a fixed charge of €90, and five penalty points if it goes to court because of non-payment.
