Drivers ignore new mobile penalties

SCOTTISH motorists continued to flout the ban against driving while using a mobile phone yesterday, despite the introduction of harsh new penalties.

Police forces across Scotland launched a crackdown to coincide with the introduction of new punishments which doubled fines to £60 and put three penalty points on a convicted driver's licence. But despite the warnings, The Scotsman observed drivers flouting the ban, three of them in little more than 15 minutes in Edinburgh city centre.

Road-safety groups described the violations as "appalling".

According to the RAC Foundation, half a million motorists break the mobile-phone law every day, unaware of the danger they pose. Experts say the habit can be as dangerous as drink-driving.

But yesterday's evidence showed that a hard core of drivers would take more convincing to change their behaviour.

The first offender was spotted cruising his silver Land Rover on to the west end of Princes Street from South Charlotte Street at 12:09pm, taking the tricky turn with one hand. At 12:25, the driver of a black Honda 4x4 followed the same route, and even dropped both hands off the wheel to fiddle with the radio.

At 12:27, a woman in a Mercedes CLX turned from Princes Street on to South Charlotte Street, seemingly oblivious to the stricter enforcement laws. And later that afternoon, a man in a black Nissan Micra was spotted on the phone while driving swiftly through Holyrood Park.

A spokeswoman for the road-safety charity Brake said the picture was "absolutely shocking".

She said: "We hoped that stricter penalties would raise awareness of the dangers of driving and talking on your mobile phone. But this appalling picture obviously catches the Edinburgh driver red-handed.

"It is high time the government took steps to ensure the law is properly enforced, and to extend the ban to reflect research which shows using a hands-free phone at the wheel can be equally deadly".

Motorists found flouting the rules could also see their car insurance costs rocket. AA Insurance warned that drivers who ended up with points on their licence from using a mobile could end up paying more than four times the fine through higher premiums.

It has been illegal to use a hand-held mobile behind the wheel since 1 December, 2003.

Home Office figures show that almost 74,000 fixed penalty notices were issued for illegal use of a mobile phone while driving in 2004. Over three weeks in Lothian and the Borders, officers observing more than 5,500 drivers found an average of one driver every five minutes using a phone.

Van and lorry drivers were the worst offenders - one in 22 of them was caught talking on a mobile.

• RANDOM breath tests are to be considered by the government in an attempt to cut drink-driving.

Ministers will launch a consultation later this year and insist they have an open mind on the issue.

But Stephen Ladyman, a UK transport minister, said: "If it helps us to improve enforcement and to really crack down on drink-driving, maybe it is something we have got to do."

Currently, police can impose breath tests only on motorists they suspect of being over the limit.

Despite a decline in drink-related deaths in 2005, they were still higher than in 1998 and 1999, at more than 500.

The Department for Transport said better enforcement of the existing blood-alcohol limit was the priority, rather than cutting it from 80mg to 50mg. But it also said Britain had better enforcement than many countries with lower limits.