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Mobiles deadly behind the wheel
Shocking new research has shown that motorists using mobile phones behind the wheel could be more dangerous than drunk drivers, renewing calls for outright bans from safety groups and MPs.
The Transport Research Laboratory study, commissioned by insurer Direct Line, found that even drivers using a hands-free phone have longer stopping distances than someone slightly over the drink-drive limit of 80mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood [and this is the highest limit in Europe - most countries have a 50 mg limit, some even lower].
Drivers using hand-held phones took even longer to react and were 30% slower to respond to hazards on the road ahead than someone over the limit, and 50% slower than sober motorists. Using the TRL simulator, drivers using hand-held phones took over 148 feet to stop from 70mph, 46ft further than a drunk driver.
The report is being backed by MP Janet Anderson, who is piloting a private member's bill through the House of Commons calling for a ban on the use of hand-held phones behind the wheel and the introduction of specific new offences. Currently, motorists can be only be prosecuted for offences like dangerous or careless driving if they cause an accident while on the phone.
She said: 'We must all recognise that driving and using mobile phones can kill.'
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, which supports the calls for a phone ban, estimates that 17 people have died as a result of mobile phone users behind the wheel so far.
Anderson has no doubt the real figure is higher and she reckons it will only emerge once a specific offence is created.
Safety group Brake also backs the report, but is calling for a ban on both hand-held and hands-free phones behind the wheel.
The overwhelming majority of drivers polled in a Direct Line survey of 2000 motorists agreed that sending a text message or using a hand-held phone was distracting, but less than a third agreed that using a hands-free was so. A third of drivers in the survey admitted to using a phone on the go, while earlier research by Oftel reveals that a quarter of all mobile calls are made from cars.
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