Motorists are now more likely to illegally use their mobile phones while driving than they were before tougher penalties were introduced to curb the practice, according to research published today.
A study by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) indicated that new penalties including a £60 fine and three points on driving licenses have failed to have a long-term impact on drivers’ behaviour.
The number of drivers using hand-held mobiles had risen sharply between 2008 and 2009 for car, taxi and van drivers.
The figures, involving more than 14,000 drivers observed in London, were also higher than for 2006, the last year before tougher penalties for using mobiles at the wheel were introduced in February 2007.
Edmund King, the AA president, said the figures were dispiriting.
“I am shocked by these figures and the concern is that, generally, the level of enforcement of the law is low,” he said.
“The worry concerning these survey figures is that you are four times more likely to have an accident if you are talking on a hand-held mobile while at the wheel.”
In TRL's 2006 survey, 2.6 per cent of car drivers used hand-held mobiles while at the wheel. This figure dropped to 1.4 per cent in 2007 after the introduction of tougher penalties but rose to 1.9 per cent in 2008. The latest result found 2.8 per cent of drivers breaking the law.
The survey, commissioned by Transport for London, encompassed of 11,851 cars and taxis and 2,410 vans at 33 sites in the capital. Vehicles were observed as they passed and details noted, including the sex of the driver and their approximate age.
The results that men aged between 30-59 were most likely to break the law, while women aged 60 or more were least likely to do so.
Sarah Fatica, from road safety charity Brake, said: “It is incredibly worrying that people still don’t take seriously the dangers that talking on your phone while driving pose.
“It is clear that people are persistently using hand-held mobiles despite all the warnings. People have to ask themselves if making a phone call is really worth risking their life for.
“We would certainly support more enforcement of the mobile law. Quite clearly, people think they won’t get caught. Perhaps the fines should rise from the current level of £60 to something like £500 to £1,000.”
