If you’re the type of irresponsible driver who can’t help but check their texts while driving we’ve got bad news for you, the punishment for using your phone behind the wheel’s about to get a lot harsher.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has plans to double the current punishment for using your phone while driving, meaning if you’re caught you’ll be given six points (enough to ban a new driver) and a £200 fine.
The planned new laws are something of a surprise for motorists as it’d been previously reported that the government only planned on increasing the punishment by one point and an extra £50, The Sun reports.
The Transport Secretary announced last night:
As technology develops, mobile phones are common place, but we need to take responsibility for our actions.
As drink or drug driving has become socially unacceptable, so must using mobile phones at the wheel.
We all have a part to play in ensuring our family and friends do not use their phones while driving.
While motorists will be grinding their teeth at the new rules they still fall far short of what some campaigners wanted from the government.
Some families had called for those caught texting and driving to be immediately banned, similar to drink driving rules.
Distracted drivers have killed 200 people in the last 10 years and mobile phone use was a contributing factor in 43 fatal accidents since 2014.
The RAC recently found that the illegal use of mobile phones by drivers was on the rise, with almost a third of motorists admitting to using a mobile compared to just 8 per cent in 2014.
Despite this the number of police prosecutions for people using mobile phone while driving are going down.
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.