Health and Safety
Drivers who use Mobile Phones face Jail
10 June 2008
As the number of prosecutions and road accidents continues to rise the Police are warning that drivers who use mobile phones and satellite navigation devices could face dangerous driving charges and up to two years in jail.
Previous guidelines restricted prosecutors to pursuing a charge of careless driving, with a maximum fine of £5,000 along with up to nine points on a motorist's licence and may not result in the driver losing their licence. Under tough new guidelines issued by prosecutors on 19 April 2008, drivers could be charged with dangerous driving, which carries a maximum sentence of two years in jail. It is believed that by increasing the penalties, drivers will start to take the law seriously.
Drivers can be charged with dangerous driving if prosecutors decide they were "dangerously distracted" by their mobile phone. Prosecutions will be brought for example if by using the equipment a motorist is judged to have posed a danger to other drivers, such as causing another car to swerve. Charges will be brought wherever prosecutors say using equipment - like a mobile phone or satellite navigation device etc - poses a danger. Under the tougher rules, such transgressions can be treated as seriously as speeding or running red lights - and could even lead to a life sentence if someone dies as a result of an accident caused by a distracted driver.
If convicted, a driver can face a minimum two-year driving ban.
- Research suggests that every day as many as many as half a million motorists use a hand-held mobile phone while driving illegally. Police now check mobile phone records after road collisions to see if the driver was making a call.
- Talking or texting on a phone has been banned for four years but the penalty was only a £30 fine.
- In February 2007, the punishment was lifted to a £60 fine and three points on the licence, but the new rules now encourage prosecutors to charge drivers with more serious offences where it is felt appropriate.
Rob Gifford, the executive director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Transport Safety, explained; "It's not every single driver using a mobile phone while driving who faces jail. It's those few whose behaviour leads them to have a crash when they are using a mobile at the same time. People are being reminded that driving is a complicated activity and it is better to concentrate on driving than talking".
Sheila Ranger, head of campaigns at the RAC, said; "This is for drivers who's standard of driving falls well below an acceptable standard whilst on their phone. We still see terrible crashes where people have been texting and drive into the back of stationary queue of traffic because they haven't seen them".
