Loyal employee that [Paul] Engel was... - Tim Jackson, Inside Intel page 130
|
|
|
Drivers on the phone could face gaol
DRIVERS caught using a mobile phone, satellite navigation system or even an MP3 player on the roads here in Blighty face up to two years in prison, under new legal guidelines which come into force today.
The guidance drafted by the Crown Prosecution Service, means that motorists can be charged with dangerous driving for using the devices in a moving vehicle.
The maximum penalty for dangerous driving is two years in prison, rather than the fine or community service order that was previously applicable when the activity only attracted a charge of careless driving.
However, Rob Gifford, executive director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Transport Safety, said that the new rules would affect only those whose actions led to an accident.
"It is not every single driver using a mobile phone while driving that faces jail. It is those few drivers whose behaviour leads them to have a crash when they are using a mobile at the same time," Gifford told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"What people are being reminded is that driving is a complicated activity and it is better to concentrate on driving than talking." µ
Share this:
Share
So what about hands free kits?

Are we not allowed to even answer the phone now?

I'm still not convinced they'll properly enforce it, especially considering the amount of people I've seen driving around my kids school in the mornings and afternoons on mobiles, especially when it's busy. Police don't do squat.
I thought the point of satellite navigation systems was to be able to tell where you were going when you're driving?
"'It is not every single driver using a mobile phone while driving that faces jail. It is those few drivers whose behaviour leads them to have a crash when they are using a mobile at the same time,' Gifford told BBC Radio 4's Today programme."

Now why did he have to go say that? It would have been a better deterrent to have left that part out.
Surely it should be "driving without due care and attention"?