Mobile Phone Law

Tuesday February 27, 2007
Guardian Unlimited 


 

Stricter penalties for using hand-held mobile phones while driving came into effect today and motorists were warned to take them seriously.

The transport minister, Stephen Ladyman, said the police were "certainly" going to enforce the new penalties while a new TV campaign would highlight the message about the dangers to drivers.

He said drivers should take particular note that using a hand-held mobile while "wobbling" around a roundabout was just as dangerous as using it on a motorway.

"We have been working with the constabularies around the country, we chose the timing of today with them, so that they are ready to help us enforce it," he told GMTV.

"We are also, of course, trying to get the message over to people so that it does not need to be enforced. We have a hard-hitting TV campaign about to start that will also get that message over."

He added: "Let's just remember that most kids get killed by cars in urban streets, in 30mph zones, and it is just as dangerous for people to be wobbling around roundabouts or going around their city streets using their mobile as it is using it on a motorway."

The fixed-penalty fine for offenders is doubling from £30 to £60 and, for the first time three penalty points on their licence.

But if a case goes to court, the maximum fine rises to £1,000, or £2,500 in the case of a driver of a bus, coach or goods vehicle. Offenders could even be disqualified from driving.

Mr Ladyman was asked if he would back a ban on hands-free mobile phones in cars. He said: "If you are not in proper control of your vehicle, there are already penalties that the police can charge you with.

"We would have to be practical in the short term. There are enough people misusing a hand-held mobile phone for us to be concentrating on them at the moment. If we need to go further, then we will."

The AA said the new measures "paled into significance" compared with the threat of jail for causing a fatal crash while using a mobile.

It added that too few motorists had made the connection between using a mobile and prison terms handed down by courts for causing death by dangerous driving.

Meredydd Hughes, the chief constable of South Yorkshire police and the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) roads policing spokesman, said: "It's important to remember that 77,000 people have already been fined for driving whilst using their mobile phones, a figure that highlights this offence is policed robustly.

"The law will continue to be enforced and with the provision of penalties extending to not having proper control of a vehicle, drivers need to be aware that not concentrating on the road could not only cause an accident but also earn them points on their licence and a fine on top of that.

"Driving whilst using a mobile phone is not acceptable and these penalties will hopefully deter those who think they are above the law."

The AA said employers needed to impose stricter rules and safer communications for employees on the road, not only to protect against the stricter measures taking effect today but to avoid facing charges themselves.

Surveys have found lorry and van drivers to be twice as likely to break the mobile phone law as car drivers.

The AA's public affairs head of road safety, Andrew Howard, said: "The new penalties should act as a wake-up call to all drivers who persist in using hand-held mobile phones and fail to see the danger, or consider the chance of being caught negligible.

"Police can trace back on phone call records to establish use during a journey that ended in a crash. Our best advice to drivers who carry hand-held mobile phones in the car is: get the message, switch to message."

Jools Townsend, head of education at road safety charity Brake, said: "Driving is the most dangerous activity most of us do on a daily basis, and requires complete concentration.

"Mobile phones continue to cause deaths and injuries on our roads, and while we are glad the penalty has been increased, the new penalties do not go far enough.

"It is high time the government took steps to ensure the law is properly enforced, and to extend the ban on using mobile phones while driving to reflect research which shows using a hands-free phone at the wheel can be equally deadly."