Using a hand-held mobile phone while driving has rightly been banned for several years, and while sadly I still see drivers using their phone while behind the wheel, a couple of recent landmark cases show that if using a phone leads to a crash the punishment will be severe.
The first case is of a company director believed to have become the first person in Britain to be convicted of careless driving for using a hands-free mobile phone despite the fact that using hands-free isn’t against the law.
Lynne-Marie Howden was banned from driving for 12 months and fined £2000 after crashing into another car on the A429 in Warwickshire at the end of 2007.
The court heard that the businesswoman had been involved in conversations on her hands-free mobile phone with her boyfriend and then a work colleague. When driving at around 40mph in a 60mph speed limit she ploughed into an oncoming car on the opposite side of the road. The driver died at the scene and while her actions were not illegal, they were deemed the cause of the accident.
What’s more, it’s not just drivers who will sit up at the precedent set by this case. If the conversation is work-related then their employer’s mobile phone policy will be scrutinised by crash investigators. If there is no policy or it is not being managed effectively the company could also be charged with offences.
The second case is the high-profile news that Lord Ahmed was jailed for 12 weeks after a fatal crash on the M1 in 2007. The evidence indicated the Peer had been texting at the wheel in the lead up to the collision.
What was interesting is that the sentencing Judge’s comments made clear the texting itself had absolutely no bearing on the fatal collision. Lord Ahmed was sent to prison on the basis that he had sent and received five text messages while driving in the dark, apparently within the speed limit, on the motorway.
Even though the texting did not cause the accident, it was deemed to be dangerous enough to warrant a prison sentence.
Statistics demonstrating the dangers of mobile phone use is widespread and compelling. Department for Transport research reveals that using a mobile behind the wheel makes drivers four times more likely to have a crash.
In 2002 the University of Utah showed that drivers using a hand-held or hands free phone missed twice as many hazards. Other recent research has compared the effects of talking on a mobile to being over the drink drive limit.
There really is no argument for using your phone while driving and these cases prove that the courts are taking a similar stance. Whatever call it is that you are thinking of making or taking, it really isn’t worth the risk.
