Mobile phone use behind the wheel should be banned entirely, according to the Transport Committee.
In a new report, the group of MPs called on the government to extend the ban on hand-held devices to hands-free ones, stating that “evidence shows that using a hands-free device creates the same risks of crashing”.
It also says that all phone use while driving, irrespective of whether it involves sending or receiving data, should be stopped.
Throughout the UK in 2017, 773 casualties, including 43 deaths and 135 serious injuries, were caused by collisions in which a driver using a mobile phone was a contributory factor. The number of people killed or seriously injured in such incidents has risen steadily since 2011.
The committee also called for tougher enforcement, stating that the rate of prosecutions has plunged by more than two-thirds since 2011. It said the government should work with police to “boost enforcement and make better use of technology”.
The penalty for using a hand-held phone while driving was increased in 2017 to an automatic fixed penalty notice including a £200 fine and six penalty points.
However, the committee said these penalties “still do not appear to be commensurate with the risk created and should be reviewed and potentially increased so that it is clear there are serious consequences to being caught”.
Committee chair Lilian Greenwood MP said: “Despite the real risk of catastrophic consequences for themselves, their passengers and other road users, far too many drivers continue to break the law by using hand-held mobile phones.
“If mobile phone use while driving is to become as socially unacceptable as drink-driving, much more effort needs to go into educating drivers about the risks and consequences of using a phone behind the wheel. Offenders also need to know there is a credible risk of being caught, and that there are serious consequences for being caught.
“There is also a misleading impression that hands-free use is safe. The reality is that any use of a phone distracts from a driver’s ability to pay full attention, and the government should consider extending the ban to reflect this.”
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It’s a full time activity
Driving in the UK is more often than not a full-time task. It has been scientifically proven that humans cannot multi task and satisfactorily cope with driving or riding whilst engaged in a challenging phone with one’s boss or other half etc. It is irrelevant whether the phone device is hands free; that is not the issue. It’s simply the poor cognitive ability of most drivers/riders to multi task.
It has been proven in the laboratory trials that a hands free driver is more at risk of a collision than a driver with over 80mg of alcohol in their blood stream. A ban is therefore a sensible evolution of the Road Traffic Act. It beggars belief that the debate is still going on.
dcather wrote:
I do enjoy those moments when driving is not a full time task....blissfully cruising along with my eyes shut nattering on my mobile....
MP’s eh....
.... those voluble chattering buffoons who love the sound of their own voice.
Yeah right.....
Thekrankis wrote:
This could be used to describe posters on internet forums as much as MPs based on some of the comments in this thread
If the cap fits.....
Wasn’t intended as a dig at you, just some of the whataboutery in general
Forgot about that survey earlier this year.
No change in law is required as the law already covers this:
Driving without due care and attention.
Driving without reasonable consideration for other persons.
If MP's don't know the current laws then perhaps they should look to their own for advice - Fiona Onasanya might be looking for a job right now. She studied law, she's an ex MP and not only has first hand experience of the current driving laws but criminal law too. More than qualified if you ask me.
Or ex MP Chris Huhne - remember him, he also went to jail for fraud over a driving offence.
Another comical stat - according to a survey ( by GoCompare) which was well publicised by the media in April of this year, almost a quarter of all MP's have one or more driving convictions - the highest of any profession.
That'd suggest they're the last bunch who should be advising others how to drive.
scotty5 wrote:
Who else should be doing it then ? MPs make laws, thats part of their job.
typos1 wrote:
An MP whose committed an offence shouldn't have the opportunity to create the law as they shouldn't be MP. At the very least they shouldn't be making laws on the offence they committed - in any other section of society it would be called a conflict of interest.
Wonder how many of those MP's who have second jobs on the board of Vodaphone or whoever will suggest it's dangerous to use handsfree? ( they shouldn't be allowed to create laws on that subject either due to conflict of interest ).
scotty5 wrote:
Comical, indeed. It's not a quarter of all MPs. It's 25% of people that received quotes via Go Compare who identified their occupation as MP...that could be just one person. It could conceivably be 162, but it was, nevertheless, sound marketing by Go Compare.
Huhne and Onasanya were convicted of perverting the course of justice, and rightly so. They were dealt with using laws appropriate to the offence. The offence was not speeding. It was lying to evade the consequences.
Neither driving without due care and attention or driving without reasonable consideration for other persons are necessarily the laws appropriate to the offence of using a mobile phone while driving (hands on or not). Those laws are used for typically broad or sometimes indefinable transgressions that result in driving below standard and the outcome from that.
There were people that would have said the same about drink driving (probably still are), but we don't leave it at that, do we. We have an appropriate law, which, in part, makes the behaviour socially unacceptable.
Seriously?
What on earth are you talking about? If it was one person then they must have been created an awful lot of offenses. Of course it's nearly 25% of MPs - go goolge it and you'll see the names.
As for those convicted of fraud - the reason they were convicted of fraud was because they'd committed a driving offence and then lied about it. Perhaps you think both ex MP's didn't commit an offence, rather it was the work of that same guy who keeps claiming he's an MP?
You seriously need to think about what you've suggested there.
scotty5 wrote:
I'm not sure why on Earth you would think I thought they had not committed an offence. I explicitly wrote "and rightly so" after commenting on their conviction, but it was not fraud. It was perverting the course of justice.
Clearly the point of my post passed over your head. I was clearly refering to laws in place that are appropriate to the offence. Yes, both Huhne and Onasanya were caught speeding. But what did for them was lying about it and then being prosectured for the more serious offence.
This was then linked to the point about laws dealing "driving with reasonable/due care" type offences and why they are not appropriate when it comes offences related to using a mobile phone. Are you clear now?
As to the Go Compare thing...it is based on quote data. Nothing more, nothing less. It is data gathering, not a scientific poll. It didn't consider the number of offences commited. It was not a survey of all MPs. Go Compare even say so on their web page...
"Nearly a quarter...of the MP quotes we analysed..." (emphasis mine) https://www.gocompare.com/car-insurance/professional-drivers/#
So, do you understand that they may have had the quote data for only four MPs, or possibly all 650 of them. They don't give that kind of information. As I said it could conceivably be 162 MPs, and if you have a link to all their names, I'd be delighted to see it.
To be frank, I take exception to them being classed under a heading of "Professional Drivers".