NEWS Motorists caught using a mobile phone while driving will be on the wrong side of the law from today, with the government ban finally coming into force at midnight.
Those caught with their handsets glued to their ears when they should have their hands stuck to the wheel can expect an instant fine starting at £30, although police have said they intend to be gentle with the mobile miscreants – at least for the next couple of months – until drivers get used to the changes in the law.
While the fine for breaking the ban can rise to as much as £1,000 if a driver is taken to court over the offence and loses, the government is planning to raise the minimum penalty to a £60 fine and three penalty points in the future.
David Jamieson, Road Safety Minister, said in a statement that he hoped the ban would cut road traffic accidents: "You are four times more likely to be involved in an accident when using a mobile phone and driving - and this new offence will help make our roads safer...Today's new offence applies to hand-held mobiles - but using any type of phone while driving increases the risk of having an accident. Remember the police can use other powers to prosecute a driver if they are distracted by a call on a handsfree phone."
The Highways agency has been spreading the message via the electronic signs that line motorways and trunk roads across England since last week, with two messages, "Think don't phone while driving" and "Don't phone while driving", to remind drivers to leave their mobiles alone while they're on the road.
Drivers will also be banned from texting or talking while stuck in traffic. Motorists will, however, still be able to use their mobiles to call 999.
While using your phone with a handsfree kit is still allowed under the new law, drivers associations and mobile operators are saying there's only one safe way to use a mobile in the car – not at all.
Comments
There are 28 comments. Join the discussion
1. Sven Forsberg
The consequence must be that it also should be forbidden to be engaged in deep discussions with your passengers while driving
2. anonymous
What a total waste of time. Yes we all know that there are lots of things that we do in the car that could distract us, but all this is still covered by Driving without due care and attention laws.
It is the old principle of; you can do what you want as long as nothing happens, but if it does then you have to take responsibility. How sad that the nanny state yet again feels it needs to force people to take responsibility for their own actions, rather than adults being able to use their own judgement as to when it is safe and when not.
I am much safer talking into my phone than trying to control 3 unruly children in the car, but obviously children haven't been outlawed yet!
Surely the Police have better things to do and anyway, there don't appear to be many traffic Police left now that they have all been replaced by Tax (sorry, Speed) cameras.
3. Mike Taylor
What about smoking - Lighting a cigarette is more distracting than using a mobile and as for a pipe??
4. anonymous
I can understand the reasoning behind not using a mobile whilst driving, but why not extend this to lorry drivers and their CB radios - surely the same rules should apply?
5. anonymous
I completely agree with the ban on holding a mobile phone to your ear in order to use it whilst driving.
However I would suggest that a complete ban is impossible to implement or enforce. Having a conversation with someone on a handsfree is the same as having a conversation with someone in the passenger seat, less distracting if anything as you are not going to be turning to look at the passenger. Are we going to ban conversations in the car ??
If my hands are supposed to be firmly attached to my wheel, i.e. unable to touch my phone, am I not allowed to change gear, indicate, adjust the radio ??
Finally, if I am on a hands free and get pulled over because the police saw me talking, well maybe I was singing along to the radio or even talking back at a talkshow. How could you possibly enforce it ??
I am in agreement with the law in principle, but would suggest that we must be reasonable, and expect technologies to change the way we live and act.
6. anonymous
So now they're talking about upping the fine and giving 3 points out... great, they really are just trying to make money out of it and you can just imagine al the police eagerly watching out for offenders, instead of going after 'real criminal'.
I always use an earpiece, yet I feel nervous now about using it, despite the fact that it's far less dangerous than having small, or large, children in the back of a car, which is the most distracting of all. What are they going to do next, ban passengers?!
Let the crime fighters fight the real crimes!
7. Amanda Sutherland
I do feel that all this rubbish about mobile phones being dangerous is a load of clap trap. What about smokers who are trying to find their fags and trying to light them while driving. Mothers having arguments with Kids who are screaming in the back of the car. Undoing a packet of Crisps, and eating them, unwrapping a chocolate bar. Soon, cars will be made so that they only take one person you cannot smoke, have the radio on, eat a chocolate bar you just look straight ahead and drive.
There are more accident with people changing the radion station or changing the cd than by using mobiles.
8. Lindsay keen-
Whilst I agree that any distraction is dangerous while driving, I do think that there are worse things, for example, lighting up cigarettes, fiddling with CDs and of course eating and drinking.
And what about the emergency services are they forbidden from using radios? one law for this govenment and one for the rest of us!! Its just a money making scheme, if they really want to save lives, BAN cigerettes, ooops! sorry there's to much tax revenue on those, they really have no morals at all.
9. anonymous
I do not object to the principle of making phone use in the car safer, it has become one of those disproportionate campaigns. Arguing with a partner, lighting and smoking cigarettes etc etc are equally dangerous, or more so. Responsible use of a hands free installation is likely to be no more dangerous than a conversation with a passenger. Let's make sure this is not another tax on motoring, in the style of speed cameras!
10. Roy Wheatley
eating, phoning, smoking is dangerous whilst driving.
11. Andrew Le May
For me it's pretty simple. There should be a ban on holding a mobile phone as it does restrict your movement, control and awareness. Using a phone with a headset or car kit however is no different to having a conversation with someone else in the car and thus should not be banned. Dialing full numbers or texting is dangerous. I operate my xda with voice recognition software from Fonix. This automatically recognises any numbers in my address book and thus I don't have to even look at the phone to make a call.
12. tony mcintyre
the law on mobile phones should not come in over two months,it should
be in now. what are we waiting for more deaths on the road from mobile phone users.anybody caught using a phone while driving should be dealt with now, not in two months time.
13. Neil Barrett
Get real folks - this is'nt about safety, it's about being seen to do something, which is how we seem to measure our politicians effectiveness these days, instead of by results. Like speed cameras, it will have nil effect on accidents/road deaths. But then, who's to blame for this focus? When was the last time you passed someone obliviously driving in lane 2 or even 3, for mile after mile, with a phone pressed to their ear? Come on folks, if you drive regularly, you can spot them a mile off. But is it unsafe just to get in other peoples way...
14. anonymous
For Sale: Car radio / CD player. One formerly careful owner. No longer to be trusted to listen to the latest government spin without being distracted.
15. Nirmal Singh
What will they do next, ban having passengers? What about the distraction caused by young children, or changing cd's.
16. Julian Defries
A great money spinning idea would be to create a police road block. Then swoop on all the mototorists who reach for their phones. It could net a fortune!
17. Julian Defries
A great money spinning idea would be to create a police road block. Then swoop on all the mototorists who reach for their phones. It could net a fortune!
18. anonymous
It is about time the government did something. The number of times I have seen near accidents cased by drivers using their mobile phone at '80mph plus' on the motorways is unbelievable. Scotland has it right hit them now and hit them hard, England wake up. Where are the police to enforce this law, I hardly ever see any on the motorways stopping the people travelling at 100mph every day on the M1, M4, M6 and the M40. I wait to see what actually happens over the next few months.
19. Richard Morrow
Amanda and Sven hit the nail on the head. Talking on a mobile phone is no more dangerous than eating, talking to passengers, lighting cigarette, etc. This is an overreaction to what is a perceived, but not actual, excessive risk.
20. anonymous
What a load of whinging idiots you lot are!
Yes, I know lighting a fag, tuning the radio, refereeing the kids, unwrapping a sweet, etc, etc, ad infinitum, are dangerous. So is attempting to drive a car whilst holding a phone in your hand, and you lot know it! You're no better drivers than me or millions of others, and just as likely to cause an accident leading to someone's death because of your actions. If you were all that good and responsible a driver you would already be aware of the fact, and leave your phone switched off or get yourself a hands free kit. Stop whining, grow up, and start acting like responsible citizens.
People HAVE been killed and injured because idiots have been using phones whilst driving, but it could never happen because of you.......could it?
KeithS
21. xrayfish2002
A well overdue law,its about time all us drivers grew up and took a good look at ourselves this will help us all
There's no arguement with the ''drink -drive'' laws so why are people moaning about this driving law?
22. D Campbell
I agree with the ban as it stands. I peronally use a hands-free.
I hope they plan to do the same for smoking cigarettes.
23. Geoff Williamson
Using a mobile phone in full hands free mode is the same as speaking to passengers while driving your car.
As long as you do not take your eyes off the road or your hands off the wheel I see no problem with using them at any time.
Next it will be illegal to speak to anyone and therefore illegal to carry passengers because people with you will want to talk.
Common sense should prevail.
24. John Kingdon
We Need Clarity!
I support the new rules but what I'd like to see is some real clarity about what is and what is not legal. One day last week on a BBC radio programme, someone said that to be legal the cradle in a car must be wired to speakers and a microphone. On BBC TV the next day someone else said that as long as the phone's in a cradle it's OK to have a lead running to your ear (getting in the way of the gear lever et al!). I've seen kits on sale which use some sort of FM transmitter to send the incoming conversation to the radio (but you have to retune the radio to take the call!) which, to me are more risky than holding the phone. Without some definition, some people will buy kit that they think is legal when it's not and others will fork out a bomb for stuff they don't need.
25. anonymous
Do not always blaim drivers - this morning I pulled into an Industrial Estate near Slough and was about to pass the security gate, when a guy walked across the road oblivious to my car.
Why?
Because he was engrossed in conversation on his mobile phone and did not look before he crossed the road.
And did I hit him?
No, because I was paying attention while I was driving and could stop in time.
So using a phone can be dangerous, but it is not always drivers that are to blame!
26. anonymous
The world has gone mad.
A year ago, I heard of a case of a driver who was fined for eating a chocolate bar whilst sat at traffic lights - public opinion was strongly "anti-police" because it seemed stupid. If you read the AA guidelines it says that you can use a mobile phone (ie. push buttons) in your car, as long as it is in a suitable cradle. As one radio DJ has pointed out - that makes SMS text messaging legal then!? How crazy is that? And if the point of the law is that "holding" the communications device (mobile phone) is illegal, then why stop at phones? what about CB-radio? I'm not advocating the use of phones in cars, but what was wrong with leaving the law as it stood, and simply prosecuting for dangerous driving, or driving with undue care and attention? Why did we need a specific law for this??
27. anonymous
BAN SMOKING AND DRIVING!!
It is equally as distractive as using a mobile phone in my opinion, and is horrible for any passengers in the car - sometimes even other smokers!!
I'm sure if I was caught driving down the road near bonfire night with a sparkler in my hand, I'd be pulled over by the police!!
It would also reduce the number of cigarette butts and ashtray contents at the road sides.
28. Daniel Trent
Listen PC law has gone crackers, lets look at this more. Police are free to talk on mobile as well as not use a seat belt {1 law for 1 scenario} Coach drivers carrying quite a lot of people are able to do what us law abiding aren't allowedto do. Aircraft and hospital bans on mobiles is bonkers as did 9/11 happen because people were phoning there loved ones or did the hijackers actually create this crash? Hospitals and not using mobiles, well only because those who think they're in the know {doctors & nurses} think this can create a major problem- stand behind their perception. Good job we have mental wards.
All this nonsense on using a mobile while driving is just bonkers. If we knew we was going to harm or kill some one, we wouldn't use one. Plus does this count for using or changing a CD, Getting a drink from your bag, which is in the foot well? Looking after the children in the back and helping them with the DVD player NO.
Political correctness, all comes from those who dont drive, a compensation culture just gone mad. Only because they want to stamp their hate mark behind us drivers {who use LPG CARS}
Daniel Trent