Mobile phone incidents rising in the UK
New research reveals that last year alone, 70,945 penalties were issued to drivers caught using their mobile phone behind the wheel.
To highlight how serious distracted driving is, black box car insurer ingenie has created an interactive digital experience titled One-Four-Nine. The interactive experience is named after the rule within the Highway Code which outlines that drivers should never use hand-held devices whilst driving. During the interactive experience, users will act as a detective attempting to find the cause of a dangerous road traffic incident, following the story step by step as the mystery unfolds.
Before developing the video, ingenie submitted freedom of information requests to all 45 police forces across the UK, in order to gauge the number of recorded cases of drivers using their mobile phone whilst at the wheel. From the information retrieved, ingenie can reveal that Essex (5702), West Yorkshire (3506) and Thames Valley (9242) are among the highest offending areas in the UK for recorded cases of drivers using their mobile phone at the wheel.
Applying averages from the data across all 45 territorial police forces, ingenie estimates that annually in the UK there are 83,621 incidents recorded per year by police of motorists using mobile phones, resulting in 10,848 court cases, 66,628 driver retraining courses, 11,752 fines, 35,256 licence points in total (3 points per fine), 573 crashes per year where a mobile phone is a contributory factor and 19 road deaths per year where a mobile phone is a contributory factor.
To bolster the research, ingenie also submitted a freedom of information request to the DVLA which revealed the total number of drivers in GB (England, Scotland and Wales) who have received a CU80*1 offence in 2016. A CU80 refers to more than just the use of mobile phones including laptops, tablet computers or MP3 players.
This research revealed that the total number of drivers in the UK who have received at least one CU80 endorsement last year is 70,945. More than half of these were in England (51,990) while just under a quarter were in Scotland (15,973) and only 2,982 in Wales. The top three places in England where the most drivers received at least one CU80 endorsement in 2016 include London (7,303), Nottingham (1,065) and Birmingham (1,063).
Mike Ketteringham, CEO at ingenie, said, ‘It’s so important for drivers of all ages to be aware of the risks of using a mobile phone whilst driving and with the recent change in the law, we are seeing a lot on this topic in the news.
We were shocked to see the breakdown of recorded cases involving mobile phones across the UK and it’s clear that drivers haven’t previously feared the punishment for using their handset behind the wheel.’
‘By creating this new interactive digital experience, we hope to highlight some of the many dangers and distractions drivers face and ultimately improve road safety for all.’
Find the experience here: https://www.ingenie.com/one-four-nine/
