Tomorrow, the law will change with regards to the use of hand-held mobile phones and motorists.
Drivers in London, Scotland and the South East particularly better sit up and pay attention as according to research released today by the headset manufacturer Plantronics’ these are the regions most likely to use their mobile when driving. Regionally, Scottish drivers are the worst offenders with over a fifth (21%) sending and reading text messages whilst at the wheel.
Despite initial legislation being in place since 2003, motorists still seem to underestimate the problems using a phone at the wheel can cause: 74% of those surveyed think that drink driving has a greater effect on driving performance than using a mobile phone (5%).
First were able to speak to an RAC spokesman Edmund King to ask about his thoughts on the new changes.
Tell us about the stricter change in phone law…to make people think twice about using a mobile when driving?
From the 27th of February, the law changes regarding people using hand held mobile phones. It means that from this day, if people are caught using a hand held phone they can get a £60 fine and three penalty points on their license. It has been a specific offence since the 1st December 2003 but the fixed penalty was just a £30 fine, so what we are seeing is a doubling on that and the penalty points.
Hopefully it will be the penalty points that will be the deterrent to warn drivers that this really is a very serious offence. The Plantronics research that comes out today does show that 96% of people think it is a serious offence and yet many people are still using their mobile phones on a daily basis. Up to half a million people a day are still using hand held phones, so obviously the message hasn’t quite got through.
Why are drivers so ignorant about the mobile phone law then – why is the message proving so hard to get through?
Well I think it is a combination of things. One is that people are really quite addicted to their mobile phones – it has become part of their every day life and they feel lost without their phones, so that’s one of the problems. And when they’re in their car and they have their mobile they want to use their phone. But I think the other thing is, and the research actually shows this – is that approx 80% of the people haven’t actually bothered to go out and buy a blue tooth device or a good high quality hands free device. There’s no real excuse for that, cos the devices are pretty inexpensive, you can get a good quality one for about £25.00 and you don’t have any fitting costs or anything. So I think the message has to go out to individuals to take responsibility for themselves. Employers should have a code of conduct for their drivers regarding hands-free - and indeed callers – individuals if you call someone and they are obviously in the car and on the phone – if they’re not hands-free certainly hang up and ring back later. If they are hand-free keep the conversation short and to the point.
Do you have any other recommendations for the best practise of using a mobile phone whilst driving a car? What can we do to avoid being in trouble with the police?
Well first and foremost, if you’re driving the best thing to do is concentrate on the driving. If you can’t turn your phone off in the car – the reality is, because phones are mobile - business people are out there and they need to take calls. So if people are taking calls – don’t have intensive conversations and arguments. Don’t try and do all your business deals on the phone. You will not be able to concentrate on that and the road ahead.
It’s a psychological thing, - it’s quite different talking on their phone to actually having a passenger next to you, because if you have a passenger with you, they can see the roundabout coming up, they can see the cyclist coming up and they realise why you’ve stopped talking to them. If someone’s on the phone a hundred miles away, they haven’t got a clue what driving conditions you’re under and therefore you’re concentrating more on the conversation and less on the road ahead. In fact reaction times are reduced by about 50% if you’re using a hand held phone.
Where can people get more information about this issue then?
We’ve got more information on this for people at the website www.behandsfree.co.uk. That will tell you about the legislation and the best advice. There’s also the Department of Transport which also have a good website – www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk and they will be running campaigns on the local radio stations and billboards to get the message across there. Also police forces across the country are going to be upping their activity to target drivers. I think one of the worrying things is that the research actually shows that even those people that say they don’t make or take phone calls on the move - some 15% do actually look at text messages whilst on the move. So this is another thing that is incredibly dangerous, as you’re looking at the screen and not looking at the road ahead.
Many people believe that drinking alcohol has a greater effect on driving performance than using a mobile phone don’t they?
Yeah, this research is interesting – from the Transport Research Lab that shows that reaction times using a hand held phone were 30% worse than someone just over the drink drive limit. Now, obviously, if you are drunk behind the wheel, you’re drunk all the time behind it and that’s never ever to be advised. Using a phone you’re only distracted for the period you’re using it, but obviously it shows that both are very serious and will increase the likelihood of having a crash.
Like you mentioned earlier, blue tooth headsets are pretty inexpensive, so what other factors might explain why they still aren’t being purchased….
Yeah – I think one of the problems here has been that even though some people may have bought headsets three years ago when the legislation first came in, the quality has increased quite considerably in that period. Some people might not have found them all that effective before and felt that they couldn’t hear what the caller was saying or they had to shout above the engine noise. But a modern high quality blue tooth headset works very effectively, so if people have been disappointed in the past, it is worth going to a local phone retailer and looking at the latest kit out there. People will be surprised at how much it has improved.
Just to be clear – what actually constitutes a hand held phone?
Motorists are going to have to be very careful – because it’s no excuse if you haven’t actually got your hand on the phone. If you’ve got the phone tucked between your ear, neck and shoulder – that’s still an offence. It will still be an offence if you use your hand held phone, even if you are stopped in traffic – at traffic lights or indeed in a traffic jam. The police have actually said that they will prosecute people, even if they do spot them at lights. The best advice is to have a cradle for the phone, so that you don’t have to actually pick it up and then to have a good head set that’s blue tooth, so that you’re not fiddling with wires or switches when you’re driving along.
The police have also said that they don’t physically need to stop the car and pull the driver over. Technically they could take your registration, see that you’re using a hand-held phone and actually send you a prosecution or indeed points through the post.
These changes are all part of the Government’s pledge to reduce the number of road accidents by 40% by 2010 aren’t they?
The Department of Transport have very strict accident reduction targets and generally in this country our road safety record is better than most in Europe, alongside Sweden we are at the top. But there is no room for complacency, there’s still 3,200 people killed every year on our roads. We know that last year 13 people at least were killed through using hand held phones, the numbers were probably much greater than that. So it is a big threat, and I think it is worthwhile that the Government are highlighting this and leading a campaign to warn us of the dangers.
It’s tragic when you read some of these accident cases…...
Yeah, this is part of the danger when you are talking on the phone, particularly when you have a phone in your hand, you’re not concentrating on the road ahead and yeah there have been cases of a truck driver coming along on a motorway, that is so concentrating on the phone that he just finishes up ploughing into vehicles up ahead. They’ve stopped in traffic and there were warning signs. But they’ve kind of missed those warning signs because they’ve been wrapped up in the phone and trying to grab hold of the wheel with just the one hand. It’s not at all conducive to road safety – you’re four more times likely to have a crash so don’t risk it.