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Police to seize phones of all drivers in crashes in clampdown on illegal texting and phoning at the wheelNo Texting While Driving sign, Houston, texas

Police to seize phones of all drivers in crashes in clampdown on illegal texting and phoning at the wheel

Road safety charities welcome move to stop drivers using phones on the road
by Sarah Barth
Sun, Jul 27, 2014 10:00
37

The mobile phones of all drivers involved in crashes will be seized and examined under new police guidelines aimed at discouraging drivers from texting and calling at the wheel.

It is already illegal to use a mobile phone at the wheel but the law is widely flouted.

Police will now check whether drivers were using their phone prior to the crash as a matter of course, and will be able to use the mobile records as evidence in court.

Gloucestershire Chief Constable Suzette Davenport, who is responsible for roads policing at the Association of Chief Police Officers, brought in the guidelines.

Previously they were used only in accidents where people were killed or seriously injured.

Earlier this month we reported how the government is considering doubling the number of penalty points motorists receive when they are caught using a handheld mobile phone at the wheel, following a recommendation from the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

Under the proposal put forward by Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, drivers committing the offence would receive six penalty points, meaning that anyone caught on two occasions in a three-year period would lose their licence, reports The Guardian.

Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin said he was taking the suggestion seriously since the "amounts of casualties there have been are absolutely appalling".

He continued: "The person using their phone doesn't realise the damage or the danger they can be in. It ends up ruining different people's lives – those who are driving as well as those who are injured.

"It is one that I want to look at. There could be some difficulties about it but I think we've got to get that message across to people about safety.

"We have been very lucky in this country in seeing, year on year, the number of road deaths and casualties actually falling. But one death is one too many and we need to look at those and see where we are going."

In 2012, more than 10,000 drivers caught using their phone at the wheel opted to take a road safety course instead of the points.

But Professor Stephen Glaister from the RAC Foundation told the Daily Mail: “More systematic checking of drivers’ phone records after a crash would... send out a message that police are taking this matter seriously and people who flout the law will be caught.”

AA president Edmund King also welcomed the move, saying: “The current deterrent just isn’t working.

“Many drivers seem addicted to their phones and just can’t resist looking at a text or tweet at the wheel. We need a concerted effort to crack this addiction with harsher penalties linked to an information and enforcement campaign.”

Hugh Bladon, of the Alliance of British Drivers, said: “I am 100 per cent against anyone texting while driving, and those caught deserve everything they get.

“But I’m worried police could overdo it, just because someone is involved in a minor shunt, surely it shouldn’t mean they should lose their phone.”

Ed Morrow, of road safety charity Brake, said:  “We are fully supportive of the efforts by the police to clamp down on mobile phone use at the wheel

“Offenders need to know they will be caught, they will be prosecuted, and there will be serious consequences.”

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37 comments

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gazza_d replied to Das | 10 years ago
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Das wrote:

The guy across the road from me has been running around in untaxed/un-MOT'd/uninsured cars for about 2 years now and he never gets caught so the chances of getting caught making a phone call must be about 1 in 1,000,000.

So why have you not shopped him to the DVLA?

That is exactly the kind of reckless behavior that gets people on bikes hit and killed.
Police would be interested too, as a lot of "petty" driving illegality like driving with no tax/MOT often tends to lead to bigger things.

And yes I have shopped untaxed vehicles in our street & seen them towed away. It is anonymous

Avatar
Das replied to gazza_d | 10 years ago
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gazza_d wrote:
Das wrote:

The guy across the road from me has been running around in untaxed/un-MOT'd/uninsured cars for about 2 years now and he never gets caught so the chances of getting caught making a phone call must be about 1 in 1,000,000.

So why have you not shopped him to the DVLA?

That is exactly the kind of reckless behavior that gets people on bikes hit and killed.
Police would be interested too, as a lot of "petty" driving illegality like driving with no tax/MOT often tends to lead to bigger things.

And yes I have shopped untaxed vehicles in our street & seen them towed away. It is anonymous

Do it on a monthly basis, but nothing happens. I think since the dvla closed the local offices they no longer care and are leaving it up to the police to catch non taxed vehicles.

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Derny replied to VeloPeo | 10 years ago
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VeloPeo wrote:

Good news - but do they need to physically take the phones? Surely the driver's TelCo could provide logs of calls and texts in and around the crash time just as easily.

Traffic from services like Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook, or Apple's iMessage, would not show up in telco logs of calls or texts. It would show up in encrypted network traffic but telcos do not log all such traffic. If you want to know if the driver was using the phone, you have to look at the phone.

Also, a person can be distracted by a phone without sending or receiving a message. For example they could be playing a game on the phone.

Avatar
VeloPeo replied to Derny | 10 years ago
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Derny wrote:
VeloPeo wrote:

Good news - but do they need to physically take the phones? Surely the driver's TelCo could provide logs of calls and texts in and around the crash time just as easily.

Traffic from services like Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook, or Apple's iMessage, would not show up in telco logs of calls or texts. It would show up in encrypted network traffic but telcos do not log all such traffic. If you want to know if the driver was using the phone, you have to look at the phone.

Also, a person can be distracted by a phone without sending or receiving a message. For example they could be playing a game on the phone.

You're wrong there - telcos will log every time the data connection from a phones is used, what site it was from and how much data was consumed. How else do you think they bill for data usage.

You're right to say that you they wouldn't be able to tell whether non data consuming applications had been used but then again, neither would plod.

Avatar
kraut replied to Derny | 10 years ago
0 likes
Derny wrote:

Traffic from services like Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook, or Apple's iMessage, would not show up in telco logs of calls or texts. It would show up in encrypted network traffic but telcos do not log all such traffic.

Your not keeping up with just how much the government spies on us. Check out #DRIP and its predecessor #RIPA.

But yes, you can do offline things on your phone to distract you just as much.

Avatar
oldstrath replied to VeloPeo | 10 years ago
0 likes
VeloPeo wrote:

Good news - but do they need to physically take the phones? Surely the driver's TelCo could provide logs of calls and texts in and around the crash time just as easily.

It's the giving it back part I don’t funderstand. Smashing them in front of their noses would be more appropriate.

Avatar
RedfishUK replied to VeloPeo | 10 years ago
0 likes
VeloPeo wrote:

Good news - but do they need to physically take the phones? Surely the driver's TelCo could provide logs of calls and texts in and around the crash time just as easily.

Does it mean seize as in have the right to look at the phone -- and the driver is not allowed to refuse -- then keep it if the evidence points to it being used.
Rather than taking all phones for x days and checking them back in the lab?

The first seems sensible - the second would be a bit of a admin nightmare for the police

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