Jail for Chatty Drivers

The use of mobile phone handsets whilst driving was officially banned in 2003, however rather shamefully we Brits have failed to take notice.

Despite recent research by the Government's Transport Research Laboratory which found that talking on your mobile phone while driving is potentially more dangerous than drink driving, over half a million of us are ignoring the warnings and flouting this law each day.

In an attempt to enforce this law the penalty for those caught using a mobile on the road was elevated last February from a £30 fine to a £60 fine plus 3 points on your licence. However, despite this penalty being more severe both in terms of the direct cost of paying the fine and the increased cost of car insurance after having points added (the AA estimate that 3 points on your licence could add an additional 20% to the cost of your car insurance premium) many of us still didn't get the message.

To help drill home the severity of talking on a mobile while you're driving the law has been modified and as of December 14th, 2007, talking on a mobile handset, texting on a mobile phone, typing into a handheld device or adjusting a sat nav or MP3 player while driving a vehicle was upgraded from careless to dangerous driving. This means that if you're caught driving dangerously (e.g. swerving or speeding) whilst using a device of this nature you could face up to 2 years in jail.

Police have been helping to enforce this strengthening of the ban by checking the mobile phone records of those involved in serious car crashes. Both in terms of penalty and of your own (and other's safety) this is definately a case of better safe than sorry.