DRIVERS USING MOBILES FACE TOUGHER PENALTIES…AND PROSECUTION FOR PASSING CYCLISTS TOO CLOSE

GOOD news.  This makes a change.

This weekend we hear of tougher penalties for drivers who commit the very dangerous offence of using hand-held mobile phones and also how West Midlands Police are to prosecute drivers who do not give cyclists a wide berth when overtaking them. The Highway Code says drivers should give cyclists a metre and half space when overtaking.

But few do, and most pass too close for comfort.

As for the millions of drivers who regularly use hand-held mobile phones while driving, doubling the fine to £60 and dishing out three penalty points on the driving licence is still too lenient. Because at that rate, a driver can be caught using a mobile another four times before losing their licence.

And that’s if he or she is ever caught again! Which is not very likely given that the police don’t have the manpower to be policing the roads?

Still, the increased penalty is to be welcomed because it will draw attention to this huge and very irresponsible problem.

Inspector Brian Rogers, of Cheshire Road Policing, said on The Guardian Blog:  'After the initial flush of publicity throughout the country when the new mobile phone law was introduced in December 2004, many drivers took heed and we issued few fines.

'Drivers are now lapsing back to using their mobile phones at the wheel. In Cheshire, we held a two-month enforcement campaign during early summer and the number of fines issued to drivers using hand-held phones has increased by an astounding 1,000% plus.'

Many people do not appear to understand that using a mobile phone when driving renders a driver’s response times to worse than if he was drunk.  The effect of talking to remote person as distinct from a passenger in the same vehicle is completely different. Talking on the phone cuts you off from the reality of what’s going on the other side of the windscreen. It is not the same as twiddling the radio tuner.

As for texting, which means you have taken your eyes off the road, anyone caught texting at the wheel should be banned from driving for life.

The scientific findings into the effects of mobile phone use on your behaviour are accepted worldwide which is why many countries have outlawed their use by drivers. And the only reason hands free phones were not banned as well is because police said it would be nigh on impossible to detect if someone was using hands-free at the wheel.

But having a law prohibiting mobile phone use by drivers is next to useless if there are no cops out there looking for offenders. And we know that the police numbers are down due to government cuts.

So this means most drivers will continue to get away with it. And that it is more than likely that the only time a driver will find himself in court for using a phone is after he’s had a collision and the police called!

Meanwhile West Midlands Police in partnership with Birmingham City Council are taking action to tackle another serious safety threat, prosecuting drivers who pass too close to cyclists.

The West Midlands trials were carried out by police traffic officer Mark Hodson in mufti, cycling along a road towards where a colleague in a police car lay in wait. Any driver who past Hodson giving him less than the 1.5 metres recommended space was pulled up.  Drivers who pass cyclists really close are reckoned to be doing what the police term a “punishment pass”!

Drivers pulled over were then “offered” a choice: prosecution or 15 minutes education on how to overtake a cyclist safely.

During the trial which lasted four days 80 people were pulled over for passing too close.

The worst drivers, or those who repeat the offence, simply faced prosecution. 38 drivers are to face prosecution.

The worrying thing is in that most cases drivers were not looking out for cyclists. Two drivers when pulled over, said, “What cyclist.”

West Midlands police say that in about 98 per cent of cases, collisions in this area were down to driver action, nothing at all to do with the cyclist.

Following the trial, West Midlands Police plan an initial three-month blitz in pulling drivers over and educating them on the error of their ways. They will then move to enforcement and anyone caught not giving a cyclist the recommended wide berth will be prosecuted.

The problem is to be taken as seriously as drink driving offences.

Cycling UK, the national cyclists’ organisation, praised West Midlands police, saying this is the best ever cycling safety initiative by a police force.

Some 530 cyclists have been seriously injured or killed on West Midland's roads over the four years.