Drop In Number Of Motorists Prosecuted For Using Mobile Phones.

[grumpy01]

Police have obviously recruited very good spin doctor.They tell us prosecutions have dropped due to improved education when in truth they aren't really interested in doing anything about it.In the area where I live drivers can still be seen on their phones and the only police presence you see are these PCSO's who are to be blunt as much use as a one legged man in an a@@@e kicking contest.

[tonyav]

Gotta agree with you grumpy, I see a lot using a mobile phone while driving.

[Prudie]

I don't know anyone who's been done for this yet I see someone using their phone while driving pretty much whenever I go anywhere by car.

[tonyav]

I don't know anyone who's been done for it either, Prudie.

[ummmm]

My mate got fined for checking her phone while at a red light.

[Gromit]

There are less prosecutions because there are less police to stop them.

// The number of traffic police in the UK has been cut by 12 per cent in the past five years, with some forces enduring cuts of up to 42 per cent, road safety charity Brake claims.

Numbers in Wales fell by 31 per cent and in England it dropped by 12 per cent. But traffic police in Scotland increased by four per cent, according to figures from a Freedom of Information request by Brake.

The largest cuts were in South Wales, where road police have been reduced by 42 per cent, and Dyfed Powys, which is down by 39 per cent. Hampshire suffered the biggest drop in England, with 36 per cent of officers cut. //

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/consumer-news/65026/traffic-police-numbers-falling#ixzz2eogldKqh

There is a lot of evidence to suggest that the number using phones while driving has doubled since harsher penalties were introduced in 2007.

[VHG]

It annoys me when the police and government keep sending out press releases saying that crime has gone down.

What has actually happened is that the public are so convinced nothing will be done about "minor" crime they don't even bother to report them.

So it may LOOK as though crime has gone down, but in fact it is just less people bother to report them.

[mikey4444]

I agree with everybody here. I drive about 25,000 miles a year, mainly on business and mainly in South Wales. I see dozens of people using mobile phones whilst driving every week, but hardly see any Police. Yet another way that the cuts associated with this present Tory government are making our lives better no doubt.

[youngmafbog]

Why are you blaming to Tories. There are no Police out because of the bureaucracy of New Labour which takes Police off the streets for much of their time. They also bought in plastic policemen, so get a life please.

I have seen quite often people using mobiles and the police drive past them - at a leisurely pace so they are not going anywhere in particular. I suspect they cannot be bothered to get out the car in the rain.

[New Judge]

The detection rate is too low for the reasons already mentioned. But in addition to that the penalty for the few that are caught is to lenient. There should be an automatic non-discretionary twelve month ban for using a mobile phone whilst driving, with a three year ban for a second or subsequent offence within ten years (as there is for driving with excess alcohol). There is absolutely no need for anybody to use a phone whilst driving and the danger presented to other road users is every bit as great as that posed by a driver who is just over the legal alcohol limit. These people are idiots with no consideration for other road users and they need to be apprehended and taken off the road. As for there being a drop in the number of prosecutions because drivers are better educated - yeah right. And salmon live in trees and eat pencils for their dinner.

[mushroom25]

you see drivers on their phones all the time round here, presumably because they know the risk of being observed by the authorities is small, and the risk of being reported for prosecution is even smaller.

likewise, the restriction on use of lane 2 by HGVs on sections of the M42 and A14 are widely ignored because drivers know nothing will be done. And likewise drivers of aggressive looking 4x4s towing trailers carrying boats, etc use lane 3 on the M6 with impunity.