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driving using mobile phoneTougher penalties for mobile phone use at the wheel from today – “a welcome first step” according to campaigners
Penalty points and fines for using a handheld mobile phone at the wheel have doubled from today. Campaigners welcomed the news, while urging the government to do more to combat distracted driving.
The BBC reports that penalties for using a phone at the wheel have doubled to six points and a £200 fine.
As drivers can have their licence revoked should they accrue six points within two years of passing their test, the change will mean anyone caught during this period would have to retake their practical and theory tests.
The change arrives alongside a seven-day police crackdown, with extra patrols and an "increased focus" on stopping anyone using their phone while driving.
Duncan Dollimore, Cycling UK’s Senior Road Safety and Legal Campaigns officer said: “Increasing the penalties for mobile use at the wheel is a welcome first step towards making it as socially unacceptable as drunk driving.
“However, unless drivers have a fear of being caught, the penalty alone is not an effective deterrent. We need regular ongoing enforcement, which means forces must prioritise roads policing so that the decline in traffic officer numbers is reversed.”
The latest figures indicate that traffic police numbers dropped by 37 per cent in the ten years from 2004 to 2014, while overall police numbers dropped by only three per cent.
Dollimore added: “The current offence only relates to handheld phones. It doesn’t address the wider problem of distracted driving. Evidence shows that hands-free phones present similar risks to drivers’ concentration on the road. The Government should start looking into this issue as well.”
RAC road safety spokesman Pete Williams said: “The use of handheld mobile phones is at epidemic proportions and sadly the attitudes of many drivers have relaxed towards this illegal and dangerous activity. The new tougher penalties will therefore be welcomed by law-abiding motorists as a better deterrent.”
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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16 comments
Today's count of mobile phone using drivers in motion in a 45 minute ride: 4
Number of vehicles passed : 9
Yep, darkest sticks here - but given the nearest law enforcement is at least 10 miles away 99.99% of the time the drivers are still playing roulette with lives (including their own)
The latest generation of speed cameras can also detect whether a driver is on the phone. When those are rolled out across the UK, things will change. Also if changes in the law allow helmet or dashcam footage to be used in evidence, then things will change very quickly. Drivers will realise fast that they can't get away with using a phone at the wheel.
I'd be interested to see how this will work for those not holding a UK driving licence - foreign HGV drivers, who I regularly see on the phone - and those who are resident in the UK who are using licences issued by another authority.
Yes, they can be issued with a fine, but that would only be effective with UK residents - where is the disincentive for those who don't hold an endorsable licence?
Incidentally, during our local police clampdown yesterday, one woman wasn't actually using her phone, as such, but was changing her music selection - something which is going to be an increasing problem, now that car manufacturers are going for 'connectivity' rather than fitting cars with CD players...
EU Cross-Border Enforcement Directive......
http://etsc.eu/faq-eu-cross-border-enforcement-directive/
Excellent! Oh... hang on a moment...
Making a phone call is only one activity that can distract drivers - iphone fiddling with a playlist is just as dangerous.
Lorry driver Tomasz Kroker was apparently doing that when he crashed into the back of a queue of vehicles on the A34, killing a family of four and injuring many others.
Calls for technology that prevents mobile phone calls being made from moving vehicles aren't therefore going to address a major part of the problem.
The photo really captures the demeanour and dress sense of a typically arrogant mobile phone driver. Audi, Mercedes or Jaguar though?
Perhaps its the time I'm out and about but I typically see school run mums driving chelsea tractors driving whilst texting/facebooking, I had one a set of lights that was so engrossed it wasn't till I had banged on her window for the third time she looked up...Utterly oblivious to what she was doing wrong.
It's a mindset, and to me there still seems to be a mindset that prevails around drink driving 'go on it's only two pints and you've just eaten' that somehow, no matter what law is in place there will be effectively nothing done regarding texting whilst driving.
Given the price of GPS units and bit of tracking software and dash cams I can't believe there isn't some way of making a unit compulsary to all vehicles that can in some way magically know if you're on your phone, speeding etc.
As ever, the problem is who is going to enforce this?
Best way is to get civilians to be involved as well and help with the police.
Whatever video footable people get with regards to driving offences they can and send it to police and get a reward.
They have this system in place in other countries.
During my usual crawl down the West side of the M25 this morning there were two blokes in a transit van in lane 3 (I was in lane 4). They had an iPad attached to the passenger side sun visor with a movie (or similar playing). It must have been angled somehow as I could easily see the screen, the driver could hardly take his eyes off of it...
So, as the fatbeggaronabike said, it doesn't matter what the penalties are if nobody is around to catch them.
Should we have a sweepstake to see how quickly it takes for someone to receive the maximum fine?
As Duncan Dollimore so aptly puts it without roads policing enforcing this it doesn't really mean anything, perhaps they ought to allow dash/helmet cam footage from the general public to be used (like the close pass initiative)
great news. let's just hope there is appetite (and budget!) to catch people. It could be 12 points and £10000 but it means little if the chances of being caught are low.
Even if you're caught and fined you can still plead hardship and the magistrates will let you drive around with 12+ points on your license (any advance on 62?)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-39053658