Fall in drivers flouting mobile phone ban

The number of motorists flouting the law by talking on their mobile phones while driving has fallen by 40 per cent since the introduction of tougher penalties, according to new government figures.

The punishment for being caught driving while using a mobile doubled from £30 to a £60 fixed penalty fine and three points on the driving licence in February this year.

A Department for Transport survey carried out by TRL found the number of car drivers seen using mobile phones dropped from 1.7 per cent to one per cent between September 2006 and August 2007.

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The figures were obtained through observational surveys of traffic at 30 sites in the South East of England.

Road safety minister Jim Fitzpatrick, speaking at the annual lecture of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, said: "Using any mobile phone when driving is distracting - it stops you giving the road your full attention and slows reaction times. Research shows it can make a crash four times more likely, so it is vital motorists do not use their phones while driving."

The ban on using a mobile phone when driving came into force in December 2003 and the latest Ministry of Justice motoring offence figures show 126,768 fixed penalty notices were issued by police in England and Wales in 2005 - up 52,800 on the year before.

Police forces issuing the most fixed penalty notices for driving with a mobile phone were Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Metropolitan Police and Thames Valley.

A further 1,639 drivers were taken to court and fined for using a mobile phone when driving.

But a spokeswoman for the Department for Transport told silicon.com the disparity between its own falling figures and the rising number of drivers being fined for the offence is due to better enforcement by police and not more drivers flouting the ban.