Skip to main content

Nearly 10,000 distracted drivers caught twice in last four years

Data received by the BBC following a Freedom of Information request to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) reveals that almost 10,000 drivers have been caught twice for being distracted while driving, including using a mobile phone, in the last four years. The data refers to the number of drivers who have received CU80 endorsements in the past four years, which is how long the DVLA keeps its records. CU80 endorsements, which carry a three point penalty, cover a breach of requirements regarding
November 4, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Data received by the BBC following a Freedom of Information request to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) reveals that almost 10,000 drivers have been caught twice for being distracted while driving, including using a mobile phone, in the last four years.

The data refers to the number of drivers who have received CU80 endorsements in the past four years, which is how long the DVLA keeps its records. CU80 endorsements, which carry a three point penalty, cover a breach of requirements regarding control of the vehicle, such as using a mobile telephone.

From 2012 to 2015, 228,301 drivers received one CU80 endorsement and 9,722 drivers were endorsed twice. The figures also show that more than 600 people were caught three times and one driver five times.

The findings come as a foreign truck driver, Tomasz Kroker, was jailed for ten years for causing a fatal crash on the A34 in Berkshire while using a mobile phone.

The UK government has promised stricter penalties for distracted driving and September announced it was looking at plans to double the penalty to six points from the current three.

Related Content

  • Ken Leonard talks to ITS International
    August 21, 2014
    Ken Leonard, director of the USDOT’s ITS Joint Program office made time in his schedule during the Helsinki Congress to speak to ITS International. It has been 18 months since Ken Leonard took over as the director of the Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office at the US Department of Transportation. With 30 years of technical experience behind him, to say he is enjoying the challenge would be to put it mildly: “It is incredibly exciting to be working in intelligent transportation systems, th
  • Experiment discovers ‘deadliest distractions’ at the wheel
    April 28, 2017
    Road safety charity IAM RoadSmart and UK car magazine Auto Express teamed up to find out which are the deadliest behind-the-wheel distractions with programming a sat-nav found to be the worst. Auto Express consumer editor Joe Finnerty and British Formula 3 hopeful Jamie Chadwick were put to the test in a professional racing simulator at Base Performance Simulators in Banbury. They were both assessed to see how they coped with the most common distracting tasks on UK roads, while completing timed laps and bra
  • Visible road markings: an essential for older drivers and intelligent vehicles
    March 20, 2015
    The RAINVISION project, co-financed by the European Commission, recently held its final meeting. Over the past three years, the project has researched the impact of road markings on driver behaviour under different night weather conditions (dry, wet and wet and rainy) and has assessed how different age groups and gender groups adapt their driving based on the above mentioned conditions. The results of the project were presented and in particular, the outcomes of three different trials conducted over the pro
  • More Than: over half of Britons in test support car crash images used as speeding deterrent
    November 20, 2017
    58% of Britons who took part in a More Than (MT) visual deterrent speed sign test support its new proposal for speed limit signs to be accompanied by images of car crashes to deter drivers from speeding. The test follows a recent study from the campaign group, which revealed that 62% of drivers regularly ignore speeding signs along with 25% who stated that the threat of having to attend a speed awareness course isn't enough of a deterrent. Upon the reasons behind the effectiveness of the images in causing