Skip to main content

Cellphone safety issue in UK

Major concern is being raised in the UK with regard to future road safety following the publishing of a report commissioned by autoparts specialist Halfords.
March 2, 2012 Read time: 1 min
Major concern is being raised in the UK with regard to future road safety following the publishing of a report commissioned by autoparts specialist 3564 Halfords. The survey says that 41% of drivers questioned have taken a phone call while driving, with some 29% admitting to making at least one call while driving in the past year. This compares with 31% and 22% respectively in a survey undertaken 12 months previously. Those drivers admitting to checking texts rose by 25%, while the proportion checking social networking sites has doubled. Drivers are fined €71.24 (£60) if found to be using cellphones while driving under legislation introduced in February 2007. Meanwhile concern has also been raised worldwide following the publishing of a controversial report in the US. This claims that drivers involved in secondary activities while at the wheel may be safer than those who do not. According to the report, those engaged in secondary activities such as changing radio stations or talking on the cellphone are less likely to fall asleep at the wheel. This report has been widely criticised by other road safety specialists however, who say that its findings regarding cellphones in particular run entirely counter to every other existing piece of research carried out so far.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Cannabis users are at risk from DUI
    February 16, 2022
    Cannabis users who drive are at serious risk from DUI.
  • Action call for ''Britain's worn-our road markings''
    March 2, 2012
    Nearly a third of the length of Britain's single carriageway A roads have white lines so worn out that they do not meet recognised standards, according to the LifeLines Report, an assessment of more than 2,400km miles of the network.
  • Self driving cars for the UK
    April 20, 2022
    Self driving cars will be allowed in the UK
  • Poor marks for UK's white lines
    April 23, 2012
    The UK’s road markings are said to be vanishing rapidly, according to a new survey by a leading highways organisation. A snapshot survey of nearly 500 miles by the Road Safety Markings Association (RMSA) revealed that well over half of white lines in Scotland and Wales are almost non-existent, and England’s fare little better. On average, the RSMA survey found that 50.6% of the UK’s surveyed road markings are barely visible. And almost a quarter (23%) of roads are classified as needing ‘emergency repa