Using a hand-held phone whilst driving became illegal in 2003 but new figures announced by the Ministry of Justice show that more people than ever are being fined for talking on a mobile phone whilst driving. Information released this week shows that Police in England and Wales issued 164,900 fixed penalty notices in 2006 - up 38,100 on the previous year.
More than 2,000 drivers were fined by magistrates for mobile phone use, and one was prosecuted in crown court. Mike Waters, Head of Market Analysis for Arval, commented:
“There is no excuse for drivers using their mobile phone whilst driving and while it is reassuring that the police are cracking down on offenders the fact that the message doesn’t seem to be getting through to drivers is a real concern.”
This new data supports a survey commissioned by Arval last year which showed that fleet drivers were also ignoring the law. The survey examined 731 business drivers at forecourts across the country. A study average of 7%, approximately 51 drivers, admitted they are continuing to break the law by using their mobile phone whilst in the car, without any hands-free capabilities, with 70% of drivers still continuing to make calls whilst driving
The extension of the 2006 Road Safety Act, which came into force in February 2007, not only increased the penalty for those caught using a handset whilst driving, but also determined that drivers can be fined even if they use a hands-free kit, if the vehicle is deemed to be ‘out of control’.
From a fleet perspective Waters continued:
“These new results should be high on the agenda of any fleet manager. Clearly this is still a problem as drivers continue to ignore the safety messages linked to mobile phones and are being caught, incurring penalty points and fines for hand held mobile phone use.”
“Companies must realise that the driver is not solely accountable for using a mobile phone and if they don’t manage their drivers closely they are opening themselves up to significant risk. If a business call to a driver is found to result in an accident, the company could be held legally responsible.”
“It is important to understand why drivers are continuing to use their phone behind the wheel, and in some cases companies will need to look at the messages that they are sending to their drivers. It may be that drivers are simply ignoring the law but there is also a danger that companies are continuing to put pressure on staff to answer the phone whilst behind the wheel?”
“At Arval our own fleet drivers are prohibited from using a mobile phone whilst driving, even if they are using a hands free kit. While we understand that some fleets will not want to follow suit we always recommend that drivers take breaks when they can make calls and listen to messages. There really is no need for drivers to talk on a mobile phone whilst behind the wheel”.