A loophole that allowed drivers to escape punishment from the law when using mobile phones for gaming or taking a picture while driving, has today been closed by the Department for Transport.
The UK Government has passed legislation where drivers who use their mobile phones for taking a photo or playing a game while driving can now be prosecuted. Drivers can now be fined up to £1,000 and receive six points on their license, for taking a picture or scrolling through a playlist on a handheld device while in a moving vehicle
This is an expansion to the existing offense of using a handheld device to make calls and/or send text messages. Although the expansion does not apply to Northern Ireland.
Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary has said the government was taking a “zero-tolerance approach” when it came to drivers and the use of mobile phones. As Department for Transport figures show that 17 people were killed and a further 114 seriously injured, in incidents where a driver’s use of a mobile device was a substantial contributory factor.
Drivers are still allowed to use hands-free while driving, if the device is secured in a cradle, and; to make payments using bank cards on their devices, but only when stationary at drive-through restaurants.
Although drivers seen “playing” with a phone in a cradle would still leave themselves open to prosecutions for careless or dangerous driving. As AA president Edmund King said using a handheld phone while driving must become “as socially unacceptable as drink driving”.
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