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Mobile Phones undoubtedly make keeping in touch easier and more convenient than ever before. When driving you do need to have your full attention on the road and traffic, ensuring that you keep proper control of your vehicle.
When driving, there are many potential distractions, both inside and outside the car. It’s the driver's responsibility to drive safely at all times. Using a mobile phone when driving will seriously increase the risk of distraction, putting your own life and those of other road users in danger. It's hard to concentrate when you are doing two things at once and any driver will be distracted by a phone call or text message. Missing a call won't kill you, having a crash quite possibly could.
Although various hands-free devices are available to allow phone use while driving, it is more distracting to talk on a mobile phone than to have a conversation with a passenger who can see what is happening. A telephone conversation is very different to chatting with a passenger. The passenger can see what is going on around them. They can be quiet if a difficult driving situation arises, or even warn of approaching dangers. The person on the phone cannot do that.
When using hands-free phones, drivers become so engrossed in their conversations that they forget about the road. They tailgate, weave around and vary their speed, increasing the chances of crashing. No matter how short they might want the conversation to be, it's always likely to go on longer than intended.
The Highway Code (Rule 149) provides this advice to drivers:
“You MUST exercise proper control of your vehicle at all times. You MUST NOT use a hand-held mobile phone, or similar device, when driving or when supervising a learner driver, except to call 999 or 112 in a genuine emergency when it is unsafe or impractical to stop. Never use a hand-held microphone when driving. Using hands-free equipment is also likely to distract your attention from the road. It is far safer not to use any telephone while you are driving or riding - find a safe place to stop first or use the voicemail facility and listen to messages later”.
There are legal penalties for using your mobile phone when driving. The main legislation is covered in the Road Traffic Act 1988, Sections 2 & 3 and Construction & Use Regulations, Regulation 104 and 110. Additionally, charges of careless or dangerous driving can be brought under other legislation where a driver crashes when using hands-free equipment.
Company Car Drivers
Travelling between meetings or customer visits is dead-time for people driving on business. It can be tempting to use this time to catch-up using the phone.
Legislation makes it an offence to cause or permit a driver to use a hand-held phone while driving. This will apply to employers who will be guilty of an offence if they require or permit their staff who drive for work, to use a hand-held mobile phone while driving. Even if the use of these while driving does not contravene the specific ban on hand-held phones, employers could fall foul of health and safety laws if it is determined the use of the phone contributed to a crash.
Guidance from the Health and Safety Executive and the Department for Transport makes it clear that employers have a duty of care under health and safety law to manage the risks faced by their employees on the road. Making calls from a mobile phone while driving is considered unacceptable by many businesses. The possibility of potentially crippling corporate liability claims has encouraged many companies to impose a blanket ban on phone use to avoid any confusion over grey areas of the legislation.
There is a business case against fleet drivers using mobile phones. Crashes cost businesses money, not just through repair and increased insurance bills, but through loss of reputation and the possibility that key members of staff will be injured or, in the worst cases, killed. The victim's skills will be lost to the organisation either temporarily or permanently and there are the added burdens of recruiting replacements. If a call has to be made a safe place to stop must be found. Incoming calls should be diverted to a messaging service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. What does the regulation say about hand-held phones?
The use of a hand-held phone or similar hand-held device while driving is prohibited. A hand-held device is something that "is or must be held at some point during the course of making or receiving a call or performing any other interactive communication function".
A device is "similar" to a mobile phone if it performs an interactive communication function by transmitting and receiving data. Examples of interactive communication functions are sending and receiving spoken or written messages, sending or receiving still or moving images and providing access to the internet.
Q2. Is hands-free phone equipment allowed?
Provided that a phone can be operated without holding it, then hands-free equipment is not prohibited. Pushing buttons on a phone while it is in a cradle or on the steering wheel or handlebars of a motorbike is not covered by the new offence, provided you do not hold the phone.
Q3. What about texting/internet access/video phones?
The use of a mobile phone or similar device for any of these activities while driving is also prohibited if the phone (or other device) has to be held in order to operate it.
Q4. Will drivers still be able to use navigation equipment or Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) or other computer equipment that sends or receives data (which would include GPS transmissions)?
Yes - providing that it is not a hand-held device. Use of devices other than mobile phones is only prohibited if the device performs an interactive communication function by sending and receiving data. If the device does not perform this type of function, you can use the device without breaching the regulations.
Q5. Shouldn’t the use of hands-free mobile phones be completely banned while driving?
This is unnecessary. While police can make use of phone records, such a law would be difficult to enforce. The police can still use existing legislation (for failure to have proper control) if a driver is distracted by a call on a hands-free phone. If there is an incident and the driver is using any phone (hand-held or hands-free) or similar device, then there is a risk of prosecution for careless or dangerous driving.
Q6. Will mobile phones have to be switched off in vehicles?
No. Passengers may want to use them. And drivers can use them when they are safely parked.
Q7. What if the phone rings when I'm driving?
Let it ring and return the call when safely parked. Better to switch to voicemail before starting.
Q8. Who do the new regulations apply to?
The new regulations apply to the drivers of all motor vehicles on the road, including cars, motorcycles, goods vehicles, buses, coaches and taxis.
They also apply to anyone supervising a learner driver, while the learner driver is driving. Anyone supervising a learner driver needs to be concentrating on what the driver is doing and should not be using a mobile phone.
Q9. Do the new mobile phone regulations apply to cyclists?
No. However, the police have powers to deal with careless or dangerous cycling.
Q10. Can I use a hand-held mobile phone when stopped in a traffic jam?
Driving includes times when stopped at traffic lights or during other hold-ups that may occur during a typical journey when a vehicle can be expected to move off after a short while.
In exceptional traffic jams, such as a lengthy stoppage on a motorway, it would be clear that someone wasn't driving if the engine was off.
Q11. Are there any exemptions?
Yes. There is an exemption for calls to 999 (or 112) in genuine emergencies where it is unsafe or impractical to stop. There is also an exemption for the use of 2-way radios (see Q14 below).
Q12. Will I be able to cradle a phone between my ear and shoulder?
No. The offence applies if a phone has to be "held" while making or receiving a call. Therefore you should not hold a phone between your ear and shoulder - or anywhere else - when driving.
Q13. Are employers guilty of an offence if their employees use a hand-held phone while driving?
The new regulations apply to "anyone who causes or permits any other person" to use a hand-held mobile phone while driving.
Employers would not be liable just because they supplied a telephone or because they phoned an employee who was driving. However, employers would probably be liable if they required their employees to use a hand-held phone while driving and might also be liable if they failed to forbid employees to use such phones on company business.
Q14. Are 2-way radios included in the offence?
The use of 2-way radio equipment (unless the device can also be used as a phone) when driving is not included in the new offence but remember there is still a risk of distraction and prosecution under other powers.
If a device is a dual or multi purpose device that can be used both as a mobile phone and a 2-way radio, the use of the device while driving or supervising a provisional licence holder is prohibited. Use is prohibited whether the device is being used as a 2-way radio or as a mobile phone.
Q. Is the offence endorsable?
A. Yes. The offence is subject to three penalty points and a £60 fixed penalty or maximum fine of £1,000 for conviction in court (£2,500 for drivers of goods vehicles or buses/coaches.).
A prosecution for careless or dangerous driving may be justified if a phone was in use at the time of a crash. The penalties for such offences include heavy fines, endorsement, disqualification and, in serious cases, imprisonment.
Final thoughts ...
Using a mobile phone when driving increases the risk of a crash by almost four times. No telephone conversation is more important than your safety or the safety of other road users.
If you are calling some on a mobile phone who might be driving, enquire if the recipient of the call is able to take the call safely.
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