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Rachael Belle Myers hopes film will curb phone-related car accidents

IN JUST 12 minutes Rachael Belle Myers hopes to convince you to never touch your phone while driving. The Wiley Park filmmaker has just released her short film, Curated Illusions, that she hopes will curb mobile-phone related car accidents.

Filmmaker Rachael Belle Myers hopes her new film Curated Illusions will stop you using your phone while driving. Picture: Joel Carrett
Filmmaker Rachael Belle Myers hopes her new film Curated Illusions will stop you using your phone while driving. Picture: Joel Carrett

IN JUST 12 minutes Rachael Belle Myers hopes to convince you to never touch your phone while driving.

The Wiley Park filmmaker has just released her short film Curated Illusions that she hopes will curb the number of mobile-phone related car accidents.

The story follows a woman who wakes up in hospital with amnesia and who uses her social media account to rediscover who she is.

“During a flashback she finds out that she was using her phone and driving when she had the accident,” Belle Myers, 32, said.

Ms Myers said people did not take using their phone while driving seriously enough. Picture: Joel Carrett
Ms Myers said people did not take using their phone while driving seriously enough. Picture: Joel Carrett

The result is a sharp reminder about social media addiction and the unsafe use of mobile devices while driving.

From July 2014 to June 2015 more than 35,300 fines were issued to drivers in NSW for using handheld mobile phones — a fact that unnerves Belle Myers.

“I’ve never touched my phone when driving but I’ve been a passenger in cars where people have and had multiple near misses. It petrifies me,” she said.

“I don’t think people take it seriously enough.”

A scene from <i>Curated Illusions</i>.
A scene from Curated Illusions.

The film was released on Vimeo last week and last year won best film at the Made In The West Film Festival in Sydney.

Belle Myers is now working on a series in the hopes of combating cyber bullying.

“I think I’ve got a social media hang up,” she joked.

“Social media is an amazing tool and a great thing in society but there’s not enough education out there about how we should manage it.”

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Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/the-express/rachael-belle-myers-hopes-film-will-curb-phonerelated-car-accidents/news-story/eea6a75e8e0f0d9f30118fc92442caf2