Skip to main content

Double penalties for motorists using mobiles

From 1 March 2017, UK drivers caught using a phone while driving will face tougher penalties. Under new legislation announced by the Department for Transport, offenders will receive six penalty points on their licence and a £200 fine, up from the previous three points and £100 penalty.
March 2, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

From 1 March 2017, UK drivers caught using a phone while driving will face tougher penalties. Under new legislation announced by the Department for Transport, offenders will receive six penalty points on their licence and a £200 fine, up from the previous three points and £100 penalty.

Motorists caught using their mobile twice or accruing 12 points on their licence will face magistrates’ court, being disqualified and fines of up to £1,000. New drivers, within two years of passing their test, risk having their licence revoked and lorry or bus drivers can be suspended if caught.

According to Shaun Helman, 491 TRL’s head of transport psychology, recent research by TRL suggests that between 10-30 per cent of road accidents in the EU are at least partly caused by distraction, and social media is an increasing risk. “Any task that involves holding a device, looking at it, and interacting with it during driving will adversely affect driving performance,” he says.

“Even simply speaking on a mobile phone can slow reaction times to sudden events, as much as being at the legal limit for blood alcohol in England (80mg/100ml of blood). Interacting with social media is even more demanding than simply speaking.”

The move has been generally welcomed by road safety charity, 4235 Brake, but it warns that the fine is still too low and it remains concerned about the police having enough resources to enforce the new law.

Gary Rae, campaigns director for Brake, said: “The increase in the points is very welcome. However, when you realise that you can be fined £1,000 for not having a TV licence, then the £200 fine for illegally using a mobile looks woefully inadequate.”
Brake also expressed concern about what it calls dwindling numbers of roads traffic police and called on the government to look again at this, and make roads policing a national priority.

UTC

Related Content

  • February 1, 2012
    Legalities of in-vehicle systems and cooperative infrastructures
    Paul Laurenza of Dykema Gossett PLLC discusses the paths which lawmakers may go down on the route to making in-vehicle systems and cooperative infrastructures a reality. The question of whether or not to mandate in-vehicle systems for safety and other applications is a vexed one. There is a presumption on some parts that going down the road of forcing systems' fitment is somehow too domineering or restricting. Others would argue that it is the only realistic way of ensuring that systems achieve widespread d
  • October 17, 2019
    How can US transportation be ‘re-envisioned’?
    In her address to this year’s ITS America Annual Meeting, congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, chair of the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, called for a ‘re-envisioning’ of transportation. Her speech is below – and ITS International asks a number of US experts what they would like to see ‘re-envisioned’…

    I would like to welcome  ITS America to the nation’s capital.

  • 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
  • May 19, 2017
    Comprehensive communications combats tolling resistance
    Toll road operator must provide clear, comprehensive and consistent communications to user groups and the local community long before the facility opens. When new tolled highway infrastructure is about to go into service, the construction, management and finance specialists who brought it into being are about ready for a well-deserved celebration. But for the communications and outreach team responsible for building public support for the project – for bringing drivers to the road, and keeping partners and