Mobile driving ban: first offenders caught

And silicon.com readers aren't impressed...

With the ban on using a mobile phone while driving not even 24 hours old, the police have already nabbed several motorists who couldn't abandon their handsets whilst on the road.

The first to break the ban – just two hours after it came into force – is reported to be a 35-year old Scottish woman caught in Dundee, with at least six motorists feeling the wrath of police after being caught using mobile phones in their cars.

Although the ban on mobiles in cars came into force across the UK, English police forces have said that they are prepared to allow motorists a two-month period of grace to get used to the law. Scots police have said that they intend to crack down on wayward motorists from the very start of the ban.

Any driver found breaking the ban can expect a £30 on the spot fine, which could rise to £1,000 if the motorist takes the matter to court and loses – and as much as £2,500 if the driver happened to be in charge of a lorry, bus or coach.

One silicon.com reader from Plymouth thought that the ban had its place, but putting an end to mobiles wouldn't stop lorry drivers chatting whilst behind the wheel: "I can understand the reasoning behind not using a mobile whilst driving, but why not extend this to lorry drivers and their CB radios - surely the same rules should apply", he said.

The subject of the mobiles and driving has drawn strong opinion from silicon.com readers, with one anonymous reader from Hertfordshire claiming the motivation behind the ban was purely lining government coffers and that police time might be spent better elsewhere

"So now they're talking about upping the fine and giving three points out... great, they really are just trying to make money out of it and you can just imagine al the police eagerly watching out for offenders, instead of going after 'real criminals'....Let the crime fighters fight the real crimes," the reader said.

It was a sentiment echoed by a fellow anonymous reader from London, who called the ban simply "a total waste of time" saying that "we all know that there are lots of things that we do in the car that could distract us, but all this is still covered by driving without due care and attention laws... I am much safer talking into my phone than trying to control three unruly children in the car, but obviously children haven't been outlawed yet."

silicon.com readers Amanda Sutherland and Mike Taylor both separately voiced their concerns about smoking behind the wheel, suggesting that lighting up meant a lapse in concentration equivalent to that of taking a call on a handsfree phone.

A lone reader from Birmingham wrote in support of the ban and said: "I completely agree with the ban on holding a mobile phone to your ear in order to use it whilst driving". But they countered: "I would suggest that a complete ban is impossible to implement or enforce. Having a conversation with someone on a handsfree is the same as having a conversation with someone in the passenger seat, less distracting if anything as you are not going to be turning to look at the passenger. Are we going to ban conversations in the car?"

Is the ban on driving with mobiles a "total waste of time" or a useful way of cutting accidents on the roads? Let us know what you think in the Reader Comments section below.