Mobile phones

It is illegal to use a hand-held mobile phone while driving, or to “cause or permit” that use. Both employer and user can be held liable. “Use” includes holding the phone in the driver’s hand and cradling it between head and shoulders. Use is prohibited even when in stationary traffic if the engine is running.

It can also be illegal to use a hands-free mobile phone set while driving. Depending on individual circumstances, drivers could be charged with “failing to have proper control of their vehicle” and in more serious cases, the use of either type of phone can result in prosecution for careless or dangerous driving. The police can check phone records when investigating serious and fatal crashes, to decide whether phone use contributed to the crash.

The Road Safety Act 2006(Commencement No. 4) Order 2008 created the offences of “causing death by driving without due care and attention, or without reasonable consideration for other persons” and of “causing death by driving when unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured.” Drivers who kill while distracted by an avoidable activity at the wheel could face up to five years in prison. Avoidable distractions include, for example, calling or texting on a mobile phone, drinking and eating, and applying make-up.

Guidance from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, produced in collaboration with the Department of Transport, Driving for work: Mobile phones, strongly discourages the use of hands-free mobiles when driving, indicating that “a substantial body of research shows that using a hand-held or hands-free mobile phone while driving is a significant distraction and substantially increases the risk of the driver crashing”. Mobile phone users are four times as likely to crash, injuring or killing themselves or other people.

The report states that drivers using a mobile phone, whether hand-held or hands-free:

• are much less aware of what’s happening on the road around them;

• fail to see road signs;

• fail to maintain proper lane position and steady speed;

• are more likely to tailgate the vehicle in front;

• react more slowly and take longer to brake;

• are more likely to enter unsafe gaps in traffic; and

• feel more stressed and frustrated.