GOVERNMENT PLANS TO DOUBLE FINES FOR DRIVERS USING MOBILE PHONES

40651922 - driving while holding a mobile phone (cell phone use while driving)Road safety and breakdown recovery provider GEM Motoring Assist offers the following comment in response to the announcement that motorists caught using their mobile phones while driving will receive £200 fines and six points on their licence.

Neil Worth, GEM Motoring Assist road safety officer, said: “Whilst we welcome this Government move, we all know it is unlikely to carry the weight it could if there were enough traffic police to make it a serious threat to disrupt offending drivers.

“That’s why we need to ensure there is a widespread national advertising campaign to warn drivers that they’re taking too high a risk and that there is a real threat of being caught if they persist in using a phone while driving.

“Enforcement is a much more effective tool if it’s accompanied by a memorable and hard-hitting education and publicity campaign, where the focus is a call for a change in attitude, to make using a phone while driving as antisocial as drink-driving.”

In 2015 there were 22 road deaths in the UK because of mobile phone use.

GEM’s short video, ‘Kill the Conversation’, demonstrates the risks drivers face when they allow themselves to be distracted by a phone. The organisation also has a supply of leaflets covering the same topic, available by calling 01342 825676 (Mon – Fri, 9am – 5pm). 

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