Analysis
Distracted driving awareness
USING A MOBILE PHONE WHILE DRIVING HAS BEEN AN OFFENCE SINCE 1ST DECEMBER 2003
On 1st March 2017, penalties for using a hand-
held mobile phone while driving were doubled to
six penalty points and a £200 fine.
•
You are four times more likely to be in a crash
if you use your phone
Whilst it is not illegal to use hands free, the
FTA reports that ‘using a hands-free kit can also
be an offence if the driver is distracted or does not
have proper control of the vehicle at the time. The
penalty is the same – six points and a £200 fine
– so employers should carefully consider whether
their staff should be expected to take calls on
the move. Employers, managers, colleagues and
callers may be legally implicated when a driver
uses a mobile phone as causing, permitting aiding
or abetting the infringement are also an offence.’
Drivers who use mobile phones are now also
liable to prosecution for the more serious offences
of careless or dangerous driving if it can be proved
that an offence was caused by failure to have
proper control of the vehicle due to distraction.
Penalties for careless and dangerous driving are
substantially higher than for the specific mobile
phone offence.
Vocational drivers may have their
entitlements suspended by the Traffic
Commissioner and newly-qualified drivers will
automatically lose their licence under the points
system.
To prevent distraction, the Department
for Transport’s Think! Campaign suggests that
mobile phones are stored in the glove box while
driving. For the facts, the law and resources
including posters visit Think.direct.gov.uk/
mobilephones.html.
Using digital recording
When vehicle safety device manufacturer, Brigade Electronics hired a courier company to
drive their demonstration vehicle from Scotland to Kent, the vehicle’s multiple cameras and
digital recording equipment, revealed that he literally broke every rule in the book with the
vehicle returning damaged.
“On reviewing the footage via the Dashboard app we could see that the driver had been
speeding at 90 mph, stopped twice on the hard shoulder for a nap, drove the vehicle until it
ran out of petrol and abandoned it on the slip road approach of the A13 to walk to the petrol
station, drove whilst using his mobile phone and eating,” said marketing manager, Emily
Hardy.
Driver can be seen using his mobile phone while driving
“Unfortunately for the driver, Brigade had footage from eight cameras around the
vehicle and an internal camera. The date, time, exact location, route taken and speed were
all trackable using the mobile digital recorder (MDR) Dashboard app. Triggers such as G-Force
also showed harsh braking.
“We downloaded the footage from the MDR and emailed it to the courier company for
a response but they could not deny the allegations. They apologised profusely, waivered the
invoice, agreed to pay for the damage and most importantly parted company with the driver.
The evidence was clear but without MDR we may have continued to use the driver who could
have caused a serious accident.”
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Fuel Oil News | June 2017 13