Road ban risk rises as mobile phone penalties double

VAN drivers will be in the firing line as drivers’ hand-held mobile phone penalties double this week – with many unaware of the change and consequences including disqualification that can cost you your job.

The definition of driving includes while you’re stopped at traffic lights or queuing in traffic. You must be safely parked.

For inexperienced young drivers in particular it means just one moment of stupidity and they are back on public transport. Because the selfish crime could lead to death or a lifetime of disabled suffering.

On Wednesday, March 1, the fixed penalty doubles to six points and £200 fine following a catalogue of road tragedies caused by drivers using a phone. And there will be no alternative of a ‘training course’ to change their ways and avoid the points. And the penalties get higher if your case goes to court, with magistrates under instructions to take a tougher stance with professional drivers.

Yet a survey of 1,500 drivers by Co-op Insurance showed that, while one in three admitted to using their phone at the wheel, 39% were unaware of the new penalties – and over half said they didn’t think the cost of being caught would be a deterrent.

The more severe new penalty raises the risk of disqualification under totting up (maximum 12 points in three years) for any driver with existing points, such as for speeding.

And it means that any driver caught within two years of passing their test loses their licence and has to resit their driving tests because of the novice drivers’ six point limit. HGV drivers have the same limit.

Nick Lloyd, road safety manager for RoSPA, said: “Taking your theory and practical driving tests can be an expensive and stressful time, so imagine having to go through it all again for one moment of stupidity.

“We understand how difficult it can be to ignore your mobile phone, but there’s not a single reason that will excuse putting people’s lives at risk, and hopefully these new stricter penalties will mean drivers think twice.”

The same fixed penalty fine and points also apply to anyone supervising a learner driver caught using a mobile. And the Department for Transport website on the subject warns: “The police can stop you if they think you’re not in control because you’re distracted. This includes if you’re using devices like your sat nav or car radio.”

In 2015, 22 people were killed and 99 seriously injured in accidents where phone use was a contributing factor.

Last summer five people died as a result of two accidents caused by drivers using mobile phones on the A34 between Oxford and Newbury.

Lorry driver Tomasz Kroker, 30,  was jailed  for ten years after he pleaded guilty to killing a mother and three children in an eight-vehicle crash between Chieveley and West Ilsley on 10 August. Reading Crown Court heard he was distracted by using a mobile phone.

This week Lewis Stratford, 24, will be sentenced at the same court, on Friday, March 3, for the fatal crash he caused last June 11 while arguing with his girlfriend on the phone. BMW driver Gavin Roberts, 28, died after Stratford’s car crossed the central reservation in Oxfordshire.

Also last year a Hampshire van driver was jailed for nine years for killing a cyclist on the A31 near Farnham in Surrey while texting – the eighth time he had been caught committing the offence.

The Department for Transport is introducing the stricter penalties as a result of these high profile cases but this week its website still had the old penalties despite its latest update being only last Thursday. The new penalties will only be listed the day the new penalties come into force.

DfT website

A Department for Transport spokesman said: “It is unacceptable to use a handheld mobile phone while driving for any purpose.

“A hard-hitting Think! campaign will launch on Wednesday when the tough new penalties come into force. This will not only highlight the dangers of using a phone at the wheel but also the increase in penalties.”

And Jayne Willetts, lead for roads policing for the Police Federation of England and Wales, while welcoming the new penalties, says all mobile phone use should be banned, including hands-free.