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Warning over in-car mobile use

02/11/07

Motorists are still willing to use handheld mobile phones while driving despite tougher penalties and social stigma, according to a road safety website.

BetterDrivingPlease.com, which invites motorists to report cases of bad driving, has had 1,119 descriptions of motorists who are flouting the law by using a mobile while in control of a vehicle.

Although drivers caught using a mobile phone face a £60 fine and three penalty points on their licence, nearly one in four of all dangerous driving incidents reported to the website involve a mobile phone.

In cases that go to court, drivers could receive points, a discretionary disqualification and a maximum fine of £1,000.

The Department for Transport has said that drivers' reaction times are up to 50 per cent slower than normal when using a mobile phone while driving and are four times more likely to have a crash.

Andrew McGavin, who created BetterDrivingPlease.com after being inspired by a similar site in New Zealand, said: "Ordinary people want something done about this. They are sick of seeing drivers flout the law so openly.

"The pressure created by reports placed on BetterDrivingPlease.com will force the police to recognise that traffic policing can't be done by speed cameras alone. Policing in-between cameras is failing."

Visitors to the website's home page will be welcomed by cartoons that depict examples of dangerous driving, one of which shows a boy racer driving while talking into a handheld mobile phone.

Mr McGavin's comments come after motorist Anne Foster-Chia was sentenced to two years in prison for knocking down a pensioner after being distracted by her mobile phone.

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