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Nearly 7,000 motorists caught out by new mobile road safety rules

27/03/07

Thousands of car insurance customers have been caught out by the new mobile phone road safety legislation, it has been revealed.
 
On February 27th 2007, the penalties for driving while using a mobile handset were increased, so that an offender now receives a £60 fixed-penalty notice and three penalty points on their driving licence, reports the Press Association.
 
The latter punishment may be of particular concern to car insurance customers, since car insurance companies typically take into account a driver's previous road safety record when calculating premiums.
 
And so far, 6,891 road users in England and Scotland have fallen foul of the new punitive measures - approximately 250 per day.
 
Meredydd Hughes, chief constable of South Yorkshire police and spokesman for road policing for the Association of Chief Police Officers, commented on the findings.
 
"It is quite clear that the tough new penalties along with tougher enforcement are having an effect on making motorists think twice about using a mobile phone when driving," he said.
 
"These figures are encouraging, although it is too soon to fully evaluate the effect these changes have had."
 
Prior to the implementation of the new legislation, financial website moneysupermarket.com published a survey into whether it would affect people's attitudes towards using mobile handsets.
 
According to the research, 36 per cent of motorist confessed that they would continue to use a mobile as before, regardless of the increased penalties.
 
Nevertheless, moneysupermarket.com's managing director Richard Mason pointed out that receiving penalty points could make it would difficult to find a cheap car insurance rate.
 
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