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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3974759.stm
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Fines for drivers who use phones

Ministers are considering introducing penalties of a £60 fine and three points on driving licences for people who use mobile phones while driving.

The House of Lords was told a 25% reduction since December 2003 was not as good as the government had hoped.

Labour's Lord Davies said: "We have indicated that at the first available opportunity we will [legislate] to make the punishment more severe."

He said he believed tougher penalties would lead to less offending.
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I'm amazed they got it down by as much as 25% to be honest. I mean, right now it's not even endorsable. Speed and you get 3 points and a 60 quid fine. Drive around one handed while the other is used to keep your phone to your ear... in the unlikely event you actually get caught you'll get off pretty lightly. Hardly a strong disincentive. Hardly a day goes by when I don't see someone on the phone while driving, often in expensive cars. And yes, it does get up my nose that I've scraped together a couple of hundred for a car kit in a 3 grand car, and these planks can afford ten times as much for the car but can't be arsed to put a cradle in.

Certainly the penalty for mobile use needs to be higher, and arguably much higher than that for speeding (unless TPTB would have us believe that driving with a phone to your ear is less dangerous than speeding... but even I'm not cynical enough to really believe they'd think that). I wonder if it wouldn't be easier if the fine was slightly more than the cost of cradle installation. On the other hand, what would that achieve beyond a temporary surge in car kit sales? The goal should surely be to reduce mobile use by drivers to a bare minimum, and that only on cradles. If everyone had cradles I suspect calls would actually go up unless there was a strong educational campaign by THINK! or someone to persuade people to avoid non-essential calls.

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Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler - Einstein

The penalty is entirely irrelevant when there are no traffic officers to police it.

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Carl Prescott

I would think penalties comparable with those for a standard speeding offence would be appropriate - although, as CarlP points out, you need to have the traffic officers to enforce it.

I think the mere fact that it is illegal will deter many people from doing it, as the law may concentrate their minds to the fact that it actually might be quite risky, whereas before they might not have thought about it - just as, regardless of the risk of detection, the 1967 drink-drive law will have led many people to reassess their drinking habits.

When the phone ban came in I was working in an office where there were a lot of chatty women, and quite a few said "oh, I suppose I'd better stop doing that now."

Also there is likely to be more reluctance to use the phone when there are other people in the car.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed