MOBILE PHONES AND THE LAW The Highway Code includes t
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number of guidelines on the use of mobile phones while driving. There are three main points: 1. Hand-held phones must not be used in a moving vehicle except in an emergency.
2. Drivers may speak into a fixed, neckslung or clip-on microphone but only when it will not distract their attention from the road.
3. Drivers must not stop on the hard shoulder to answer or make a call however urgent.
Transport lawyer Jonathan Lawton says there have been many successful prosecutions against drivers for these offences with the charge normally being one of driving without due care and attention which can cost a driver licence points. However, a case was dismissed in Scotland when the Sheriff decided that although the motorist had technically broken the law there was otherwise nothing wrong with his driving.
Lawton reckons the law's prejudice against mobile phones stems from an original perception that they were a yuppie toy used by young motorists: "Is it any less distracting to drive while eating, drinking or lighting a pipe?"