In the past year, drivers in Merseyside were fined more than £1.2m for using their mobile phones while driving.
The Liverpool Daily Post reported that between April and September this year, police gave out tickets to more than 20,000 drivers for using handheld mobiles while in charge of their vehicles.
Even a driving instructor was among those hit with an £60 penalty and three points on their licence. The driving instructor was teaching a learner driver at the time!
Merseyside Police warned that the number of killed or seriously injured on the road could potentially increase unless they enforced the law. The cause of accidents while driving is not recorded, so there is no available data for how many people may have perished on UK roads because of mobile use.
COW, the graphic texting & driving public information film which we discussed on the Latics blog in August is being given its TV premiere by BBC Wales next week after becoming a global hit on the internet.
The film stars young actors from south Wales and shows a teenager killing four people in a crash when she sends a text from her mobile phone whilst driving.
Filmmaker Peter Watkins-Hughes produced it for Gwent Police as an educational tool for young drivers. It will be broadcast for the first time on BBC Two Wales on Monday 2nd November at 10pm (Sky Channel 991).
Customers of two of Britain’s biggest mobile networks can now get the latest news from the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) straight to their mobile phone – free of charge.
The DSA is already using the popular microblogging site Twitter to keep almost 700 subscribers – or ‘followers’ – updated via the internet.
Now O2 and Vodafone are allowing customers to receive Twitter messages, known as ‘tweets’, as free text messages to their mobiles.
It means you can get latest DSA news wherever you are and at the times which suit you.
The DSA have so far used Twitter to highlight upcoming changes to the Theory Test, the introduction of Driver CPC, the new Enhanced Rider Scheme campaign, to give advice on test bookings and to advertise their attendance at various shows and events.
Set up your mobile phone
To receive this service, you’ll need to subscribe to Twitter at twitter.com. Then when you’ve created your account, head to your account settings on the Twitter website, and activate your mobile phone. All you need to do then is:
A shocking new video has been made for school pupils in an attempt to reduce crashes caused by drivers texting whilst driving.
The short 30-minute film called ‘COW’ shows Cassie Cowan, a teenage girl, killing four people as a result of her using her mobile phone to send a text. A clip from the film is shown below…
It includes footage of all the emergency services attending the crash scene, including the air ambulance, police and firefighters.
In light of the latest research into the use of hands-free mobile phone equipment whilst driving, Latics’ directors Claire Wilmot & Glyn Crossley have banned their use by Latics instructors in all training vehicles.
Research has consistently found that driving whilst using a mobile phone (whether hand-held or hands-free) is extremely dangerous. One test by the the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) found that motorists who talk on hands-free phones are more dangerous than drink-drivers, finding that they were 30 per cent slower to react than those slightly over the legal alcohol limit. The report also found that drivers reflexes remained dulled for up to ten minutes after a conversation.
Claire Wilmot said: “I am glad we have taken this step. Very few of our instructors use hands-free equipment anyway, and none of our instructors are allowed to answer their phone during lessons. But we want to ensure that not only are all our instructors safe on the roads, we also set a good example to our pupils and members of the public. Whilst we appreciate that driving instructors have very little time to run their business effectively between lessons, it is important that we stay safe and set a professional image”.
Today, the goverment launches it’s latest campaign against drivers texting whilst on the move. The Think! campaign is especially targetted at young drivers, 30% of whom admit to texting at the wheel.
The Department for Transport noted that using a mobile phone at the wheel is considered the second most unacceptable driving behaviour among motorists with 93% agreeing that texting while driving is dangerous. However, 12% of all motorists admit to texting while driving.
Whilst online this morning, I came across this unbelivable video from CNN, showing a bus driver, driving disabled passengers in Texas, crashing into stationary traffic whilst texting:
The new radio campaign features a driver’s voice spelling out a text message followed by the harrowing sound of a car crash. Click here to listen to it.
An online ‘driving challenge’ game is also available, which demonstrates how using a mobile at the wheel can completely distract the driver. Try it out for yourself!
Following on from Friday’s blog entry about the dangers of hands-free mobile phone use, I came across an interesting article this evening by Faye Sunderland of contracthireandleasing.com.
“Seven out of ten drivers have driven dangerously because they were making phone calls, sending texts or fiddling with the radio – with some admitting to having actually caused an accident as a result, research by car insurance compant, Swiftcover reveals. Although mobile phones and in-car entertainment systems are big causes of dangerous driving, smoking, personal grooming and using a sat-nav system have all been cited as distractions – while 4 per cent of motorists admit they have driven while watching a movie!”
I see this every day… people driving whilst talking on mobile phones, or even worse – texting. But although the average driver may think that hands-free equipment is perfectly safe, this may make you think again.
In what is seen as a landmark case, a sales boss, Lynne-Marie Howden, who was using a legal hands-free phone when she crashed and killed another driver, was recently found guilty of causing death by careless driving. The prosecutor said: ‘She lost control because she was distracted by the call. The collision would not have happened if she had not been on the phone and had been paying attention.’
Her final call was to a work colleague at 8.23am which lasted five minutes before she lost control of her car. She later told officers: ‘It is entirely legal to use a mobile phone with a hands-free kit. I regularly make and receive calls while driving. My car is effectively my office.’
The Government is giving serious consideration to plans to cut speed limits on most rural single-carriageway roads from 60mph to 50mph, it has been revealed.
Ministers believe that the potentially unpopular move may be needed in order to reduce the number of deaths among motorists and pedestrians on rural roads. Road Safety Minister Jim Fitzpatrick is said to have been struck by figures showing that these parts of the UK’s road network were more prone to crashes.
In 2007, there were 2,946 deaths and 30,000 serious injuries on British roads, with speed being a factor in 29% of them. Currently the speed limit on almost all single carriageway roads outside of towns is set at 60mph, except for at accident blackspots. Mr Fitzpatrick is looking at reducing these limits in a bid to improve the UK’s road safety record, which used to rank among the best in the world, but has slipped in recent years.
But AA director Edmund King told the Sunday Telegraph: “Rather than impose a blanket cut, the Government should adopt a targeted approach.”
In the past year, drivers in Merseyside were fined more than £1.2m for using their mobile phones while driving.
Following on from Friday’s blog entry about the dangers of hands-free mobile phone use, I came across an interesting article this evening by Faye Sunderland of contracthireandleasing.com.
I see this every day… people driving whilst talking on mobile phones, or even worse – texting. But although the average driver may think that hands-free equipment is perfectly safe, this may make you think again.
The Government is giving serious consideration to plans to cut speed limits on most rural single-carriageway roads from 60mph to 50mph, it has been revealed.
