HC Deb 14 November 2001 vol 374 cc881-2 4.40 pm
Janet Anderson (Rossendale and Darwen)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make it an offence to use a hand-held mobile telephone while driving a motor vehicle; and for connected purposes. I was inspired to move this Bill by a councillor in my constituency. Councillor Geoff Cheetham, who serves the Eden ward on Rossendale borough council and who asked me, "When are you MPs going to do something about people talking on mobiles while they are driving?"

There can be no hon. Member who has not at some time witnessed someone at the wheel of a motor vehicle who is at the same time conducting a conversation on a hand-held mobile telephone. Indeed, there may be hon. Members who have committed what is already technically an offence under sections 2 and 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. I am pretty sure that I am one of them. Historically, the Government have argued that the legislation is wide-ranging enough to include mobile phones as the highway code already contains in paragraph 127 advice on driving and using the phone. It states: you must exercise proper control of your vehicle at all times. Never use a hand held mobile phone or microphone while driving. I believe that in the long term it is right to consider a generic offence to cover the use of mobile phones while driving and any other technologies that may emerge in the not-too-distant future. That view is supported by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and the parliamentary advisory council for transport safety. Indeed, a similar law was enacted in the state of New York as recently as 1 November this year. New York is the first US state to enact such legislation, but more than 30 other states are reported to have introduced similar legislation during this year. There are also moves in the United States to introduce a Bill to impose a national ban on the use of mobile phones while driving.

In New South Wales too, there is now a law that states quite explicitly that the driver of a vehicle must not use a hand-held mobile phone while the vehicle is moving. Korea has now followed suit and I understand that the Government of the Irish Republic are considering doing the same.

Some may argue that our present laws are sufficient to deal with this problem, but I believe that we know from our daily experiences that they are not. As recently as July this year the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents called for a specific offence to ban the use of mobile phones while driving. It called for new legislation to make it crystal clear that mobile phones should be switched off while drivers are at the wheel.

ROSPA estimates that there have now been at least 16 deaths on British roads in which a mobile phone has been implicated, and that this could be the tip of the iceberg. It is only when someone is killed that the problems associated with mobile phones and driving are highlighted as there is no specific offence related to mobile phones and driving. It is therefore impossible to keep track of how often they are a major factor in accidents. It is possible that hundreds of accidents may be caused by the use of mobiles and that that is going unrecorded. Text messaging is the latest craze and poses a new threat to road safety.

A brief report in The Observer of 8 July stated: One of the most alarming sights on our road is a driver, mobile phone crooked in shoulder, chattering endlessly, oblivious to other traffic. Inevitably accidents occur. Cars are struck, and people are run over. Driving and phones can kill, as US academics made clear four years ago when they found that mobile telephone use made accidents four times more likely. Research in the United States also claims that to speak on a mobile telephone while driving is as dangerous as drink driving.

New York has had enough and has outlawed the practice. I believe that it is high time we did the same because no one, regardless of how competent a driver someone claims to be, can hold a phone, dial a number, conduct a conversation and be in complete control of a car or lorry. It is simply not the same as having a conversation with a passenger or listening to a tape or the radio. It takes less than a split second for a lapse in concentration to result in an accident. It must therefore be made crystal clear to drivers who insist on behaving in this way that they endanger the safety of the public generally, and their own safety too.

That is why I am seeking leave to introduce this Bill today.

Question put and agreed to.

Bill ordered to be brought in by Janet Anderson, Mr. John McFall, Ms Bridget Prentice, Mrs. Betty Williams, Jim Dowd, Mr. Paul Keetch, Sir Sydney Chapman, Mrs. Alice Mahon, Mr. Siôn Simon, Andy Burnham, Lawrie Quinn and Barbara Follett.