LONDON - Motorists who are caught yakking on their mobile phones while driving now face fines of £60. Police forces have pledged to adopt a "zero tolerance" policy toward such drivers.

Another measure that has been recommended to the police is that they check the mobile phone records of people involved in routine accidents. Motorists also face the possibility of being docked up to three points on their licenses.

These measures will be put into place following a second review of the road safety system conducted by the Department for Transport. The review has also recommended that random breath testing measures be instituted in order to catch culprits.

The authority to allow police to check mobile phone records is a new one as previously they were vested with the right to check mobile phone records only in cases of fatal accidents. In 2005 mobile phones were associated with 13 deaths, 52 serious accidents as well as 364 routine ones.

The Road Safety Act also makes it clear that even if drivers are using hands-free phones they are still liable to be prosecuted if it is found that the call was interfering with their driving. "We will look at ways to make it easier for the police to be able to follow the process of investigating whether mobile phone use was a contributory factor in an accident and thus prosecute more offenders," the Department for Transport paper stressed.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents welcomed the new rules. A spokesman said that mobile phones continue to be implicated in many accidents although they were not fatal.

Earthtimes.org

Motor vehicles should all be equipped with a device that scrambles the signal when the engine is running.

Fisherman Wrote:Motor vehicles should all be equipped with a device that scrambles the signal when the engine is running.

So that every passing car distorts your phone call from the sidewalk, busstop or roadfront coffee shop?
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