Skip to main content

Dutch government wants to ban mobile phone use in cars

The Dutch government is looking into measures to cut the number of deaths and injuries caused by drivers being distracted by their phones, transport minister Melanie Schultz told Algemeen Dagblad. This could mean that mobile phone manufacturers could be required to fit devices that stop people using their handsets while driving. Currently motorists only break the law if they pick up the phone while driving, but the government says research shows that even hands-free use significantly increases the ris
November 29, 2016 Read time: 1 min
The Dutch government is looking into measures to cut the number of deaths and injuries caused by drivers being distracted by their phones, transport minister Melanie Schultz told Algemeen Dagblad.

This could mean that mobile phone manufacturers could be required to fit devices that stop people using their handsets while driving.

Currently motorists only break the law if they pick up the phone while driving, but the government says research shows that even hands-free use significantly increases the risk of an accident. Schultz said she would look into the feasibility of a total ban. She is also considering technological solutions and is talking to the telecoms companies about making phones switch off certain functions when travelling

Related Content

  • June 17, 2024
    As many as '50,000' daily cases of illegal phone use on English roads
    Results from UK DfT and Aecom using Acusensus tech suggest worrying scale of problem
  • November 27, 2013
    Extra enforcement key to cutting road casualties in The Netherlands
    While The Netherlands already has some of the safest roads in the world it has ambitious plans to make them safer still, as Jon Masters discovers. In virtually all periodical studies and comparisons of countries’ road safety performance, the Netherlands is consistently in the top three and often leads the world, depending on how casualty figures are compared. According to the International Traffic Safety Data & Analysis Group (IRTAD) of the International Transport Forum, road deaths per capita have falle
  • July 18, 2017
    Authorities look to MaaS for new solutions and cost savings
    The structure of society and the way in which our cities work will be completely transformed by Mobility as a Service (MaaS), Finland’s minister of transport and communications Anne Berner, told ITS International’s recent MaaS Market conference 2017 in London. In her keynote address, Berner told a packed audience of more than 200 ITS professionals that MaaS has the potential to help governments around the world meet their big city targets such as the rate of employment, the environment, the efficient use of
  • April 17, 2015
    Fewer drivers punished for mobile use, police figures suggest – IAM response
    The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has responded to the BBC story this morning suggesting the number of drivers given penalty points for using mobile phones at the wheel fell by 24 per cent last year in England and Wales. In addition to the BBC’s findings, an earlier study by the Department of Transport showed 1.1 per cent of drivers in England and Scotland were observed holding a phone in their hand with a further 0.5 per cent observed holding the phone to their ear – this is potentially more tha