Fewer motorists in court over phone use

Police say more drivers are realising the dangers of using phones behind the wheel - but thousands are still ending up in court.

But drivers' group the RAC says recent Government figures show just as many people are using phones while driving - highlighting what it calls a 'worrying mismatch' between what motorists see happening on the roads and what they are being prosecuted for.

In 2009 there were 4,048 cases and 3,917 either found or pleaded guilty in the West Midlands, while last year there were 2,381 cases and 2,232 were guilty.

In Staffordshire it dropped from 1,388 cases and 1,356 found guilty, to 2,381 and 2,322 last year.

This mirrors the situation nationally, with 17,414 prosecutions made in magistrates' courts in England and Wales in 2014, which is 15,157 fewer than in 2009.

A motorist may be summoned to a magistrates' court if they ignore or choose to challenge a fixed penalty notice, if they already carry too many points, or if the offence is deemed too serious for a fixed penalty.

The fall is despite figures from the Department for Transport indicating a relatively unchanged percentage of car drivers using phones at the wheel.

A study in 2014 found that 1.6 per cent of all drivers in England – that is more than half a million people – were observed using a mobile phone, slightly up from 1.4 per cent in 2009.

And mobile phone use is increasingly a factor in accidents in the UK – in 2014, 492 accidents were as a result of a driver using a phone, up 40 per cent on 2010.

It comes as police in the West Midlands launch a fresh crackdown on drivers using mobiles.

Officers use both marked and unmarked vehicles to catch motorists illegally using their mobiles to make calls or text or browse the internet while they are driving.

RAC head of external affairs Pete Williams said: "There is still an enormous gulf between what the law states – that handheld mobile phones should not be used behind the wheel – and what motorists see happening on our roads. Drivers are routinely using their phones at red traffic lights, or even while on the move.

"We have already highlighted the large reductions in the numbers of full-time roads policing officers affecting many police forces.

"Sadly, therefore, there are now far fewer police to enforce a law that is designed to protect all road users and pedestrians.

"With budgetary constraints, roads policing officer numbers are not going to dramatically increase in the near future, but we believe that now is time to halt the decline and stop further year-on-year cuts. We also look to the Government to propose other means of enforcing the existing law. Can technology play a greater role in helping catch offenders?

"The goal for ministers and policy makers is surely to make the use of mobile phones at the wheel as socially unacceptable as drink-driving."

Inspector Sion Hathaway from the Central Motorway Patrol Group (CMPG) said: "It's been over 10 years since it became illegal to use a phone whilst driving, but the number of people being killed or injured as a result of this activity continues to increase.

"By using your mobile behind the wheel you're putting yourself and other road users in real danger and ultimately, you could be responsible for causing the death of another person."