It is now illegal for drivers in the UK to use a handheld mobile phone under virtually any circumstance while behind the wheel.<\/p>\n
Under new laws introduced this month, people are breaking the law if they use a handheld mobile phone while driving for any use, including to take photos or videos, scroll through playlists or play games.<\/p>\n
Anyone caught using their handheld device while driving could face a fine of up to \u00a31,000 as well as six points on their licence or a full driving ban.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will do everything in my power to keep road-users safe, which is why I am taking a zero-tolerance approach to those who decide to risk lives by using their phone behind the wheel,\u201d said Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. \u201cI\u2019m ensuring anyone who chooses to break this vital law can face punishment for doing so and we\u2019ll continue our efforts to ensure our roads remain among the safest in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
The government\u2019s THINK! team is also launching an \u00a3800,000 awareness campaign to remind drivers not to use a handheld phone at the wheel and of the penalties if choosing to ignore this new law.<\/p>\n
Millions of young people will start seeing the adverts in the coming weeks, showing friends appearing in the back seat to intervene when the driver becomes tempted to use their phone behind the wheel.<\/p>\n
Drivers are still able to make contactless payments, for example, at drive-throughs, so long as their vehicle is stationary. They can also still use a device \u2018hands-free\u2019 while driving if it\u2019s secured in a cradle, allowing motorists to use their phone as a sat-nav. They must, however, always take responsibility for their driving and can be charged with an offence if the police find them not to be in proper control of their vehicle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It is now illegal for drivers in the UK to use a handheld mobile phone under virtually any circumstance while behind the wheel. Under new laws introduced this month, people are breaking the law if they use a handheld mobile phone while driving for any use, including to take photos or videos, scroll through playlists […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":13732,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edriving.com\/three60\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edriving.com\/three60\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edriving.com\/three60\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edriving.com\/three60\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edriving.com\/three60\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.edriving.com\/three60\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edriving.com\/three60\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edriving.com\/three60\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edriving.com\/three60\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edriving.com\/three60\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}