Fines and penalty points for using a phone while driving are set to double after new penalties came into force in England, Scotland and Wales on Wednesday.
Drivers who are caught will be given six points on their licence and a £200 fine. Those who have recently qualified could lose their licence if they accrue six points within two years of passing their test.
Our readers have been discussing how the new penalties will be enforced and whether it will help reduce the number of those injured and killed on the road. Here’s what some of them said. You can expand the discussion and join in by clicking the links on the comments below.
‘If the government was serious it would ban the practice completely’
‘During one hands-free conversation I found myself going round a roundabout three times’
Absolutely. When I had a has free mobile phone fitted in my company car many years ago I once found myself going round a roundabout three times during a phone conversation. I had the phone taken out.
‘We need to make it culturally unforgivable’
We need to make it culturally unforgivable. Drunk drivers have gone through this, it is not seen as a badge of honour to drink and drive now, you just seem like scum who is happy to risk other lives.
People who use the phone whilst driving should be made to feel like shit. It needs to be embarrassing and they should be made to feel ashamed of what they have done when they are caught. Obviously also fine them hell out of them, ban them from driving and take their phone.
‘Low risk and low consequences means no-one takes any notice’
You're right it's a balance of risk and consequences - and because the risk of being caught is low the consequences need to be high in order to deter. Low risk and low consequences means no-one takes any notice. But add in very high consequences and, as with drink driving, many will think twice.
I once interviewed a single mother who lost her only daughter, the first ever in her wider family to graduate from university, to a business driver on a mobile phone. I've never forgotten it, her bravery nor the pricks of tears in my eyes. Some readers here will know what that loss feels like. I've used a TRRL driving simulator too, and seen for myself how it affects reaction times. If you - reading this - phone and drive, is it worth it?
‘I don’t think this will really tackle the route cause, which is a lack of driver awareness and a sense of entitlement when behind the wheel’
Step in the right direction but ultimately pointless without and effective enforcement regime. I don't think this will really tackle the route cause, which is a lack of driver awareness and a sense of entitlement when behind the wheel. It's too easy to try and link this to a general drop in driving standards, but has anyone else noticed a growing trend of drivers who can't be bothered to use their indicators?!
‘You have to devote a lot more brain power to run a conversation you’re having on a phone’
2) very different. In face to face conversations, you are having a two way conversation that your whole brain and body is evolved to manage smoothly. Non verbal cues abound, so it's not distracting. On the phone (one crappy little audio channel), you have to devote a lot more brainpower to run the conversation, so the brain does mad things like ignoring inputs from the eyes.
‘Policing this in rural areas where there are cutbacks will be difficult’
Until recently, I could have counted 10 young farmers a day, driving 20 tonne rigs while chatting away on their phones. This ceased in the run-up to this Act becoming law.
Let's hope it stays that way, because it was really scary being confronted by a huge tractor veering toward my car, while the drivers concentration is elsewhere.
One of the problems I can see is policing this in rural areas, where cutbacks have left less police officers to catch these people.
‘Most drivers manage to drive and use their phone just about without managing to hit another car, so people think it’s okay to do so’
I live fairly central in London and recently sold my car so take the bus and cycle a lot now. If I look down from the seat on a bus to slow moving traffic it seems at least half of motorists have a smartphone in their hand and or on their lap.
The problem is people find it so difficult to go through a prolonged period of more than say 5 minutes without checking their phone, lack of enforcement and the fact it's relatively socially acceptable to do so means they continue to check their phones whilst driving as it's easy.
The thing is, the vast majority of drivers manage to drive and use their phone just about without managing to hit another car, so people think it's okay to do so, especially in slow moving traffic. I'm not an avid cyclist, but when I do cycle in London the distraction caused by smartphones is so glaringly obvious every second of the journey - drivers are keeping an eye out for large vehicle traffic movement but often completely oblivious to pedestrians and cyclists, and motorcyclists.
‘If you need to use your phone pull over, stop and turn off the engine’
I live less that 5 minutes walk from a main arterial road, If I choose to walk into town past the police station I will have seen 5 or 6 on the mobile whilst at the wheel, if I can see them so can the police but, Where are they?"
A few days ago I was on the M5 in Worcestershire approaching my junction, mid afternoon there was a bigger than "Transit" van weaving all over his lane when passing an artic, yep you have got it on the phone.
How's this for a radical suggestion. Make it an offence to have a mobile in the cabin are for drivers and passengers, when you get in the car you have to put the mobiles in the boot or luggage area. If you need to use the mobile you have to pull over and stop and turn off the engine.
If you need your mobile for work the you employer should supply the appropriate hardware.
This is from a man who had a car phone pre 12 volt brick days (1986 ish) and has had some form of hands free kit ever since.
‘The bigger picture is our connection to our phones’
The "bigger picture", if I may be so bold, is our connection to our phones.
How many people just let their phone ring if it's not convenient to answer it? People say to me "Why didn't you answer"? and I reply "I was having dinner" and they look at me like I've gone mad.
It's all having a negative effect on our wellbeing. Anxiety is increasing, so many people fear missing out on that Facebook post of a cat, they simply MUST be contactable every minute of every day.
Why? You're not THAT important.
A few weeks ago I accidentally left my phone at home when I went out for a few pints. It was great. And when I got home I had...zero texts and zero missed calls!
The problem is that using a hands free system when driving is equally as dangerous as actually holding your phone whilst driving to make a call. Of tge government were serious about cutting the 22 deaths a year attributable to making calls whilst driving they'd ban the practice completely.