Mobile phone bill

Janet Anderson Labour MP for Rossendale and Darwen is putting forward a Bill to make it an offence to use a hand-held mobile telephone while driving. The government has argued that current legislation is wide-ranging enough to include mobile phones, however Anderson believes that a specific offence covering mobile phones is needed. This view is supported by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA) which has called for a ban to make it clear that phones should be switched off while drivers are at the wheel. ROSPA estimates that mobile phone use has been linked to at least 16 deaths on British roads and that this could be the tip of the iceberg. Text messaging also poses a threat. Anderson cites US research showing that using mobiles made accidents four times more likely and that speaking on a mobile telephone while driving is as dangerous as drink driving.