§ John BarrettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions for(a) dangerous driving, (b) failing to have proper control of the vehicle and (c) careless and inconsiderate driving have been brought because of the use of mobile phones in each year since 1995. [24296]
§ Mr. Keith BradleyThere is no separate offence of driving a vehicle while using a mobile telephone and the circumstances of offences are not collected. In the main, prosecutions involving the use of mobile phones are likely to be for driving without due care and attention under section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. The number of prosecutions for this offence within England and Wales since 1995 is given in the table.
Proceedings at magistrates courts for offences of driving without due care and attention1, England and Wales, 1995–2000 Year Number of offences prosecuted 1995 73,015 1996 66,858 1997 64,819 1998 60,505 1999 54,789 2000 49,971 1 Offences under section 3 Road Traffic Act 1988 It is also possible for such drivers to be prosecuted or issued with a fixed penalty for not being in proper control of a vehicle (Regulation 104 of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986), but such cases cannot be separately identified in the statistics collected centrally.