Transport secretary unveils crackdown including new fines for offences such as lighting cigarette at wheel
Sending a text message or making a phone call while at the wheel will land drivers with harsher penalties, the transport minister has warned.
In a move to crack down on dangerous driving, Patrick McLoughlin indicated that fines for a variety of offences would rise by 50%, from £60 to £90. The number of penalty points offenders receive on their licence will remain at three.
The cost increase will cover fixed-penalty notices for the offence of using a handheld device while driving, the Daily Mail said, and also for speeding and going through a red light.
A new penalty of three penalty points and a £90 fine will also be introduced for a number of careless driving offences, including cutting up other drivers, eating a sandwich or lighting a cigarette at the wheel, driving at an inappropriate speed and needlessly hogging the middle lane on a motorway.
New drug-driving laws will also be introduced, and the current drink-drive limit will not be lowered.
McLoughlin, who admitted at a road safety conference in London that he had used a mobile phone to make calls while driving, but would not do so now, said: "We want to send a clear message to dangerous drivers: if you continue to show complete disregard for the safety of other road users, we will catch you – and we will punish you."
More than a million drivers have been convicted of using a handheld mobile phone behind the wheel since 2003, when using one other than for making an emergency call was made illegal.
Prof Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: "With both texting and handheld use of mobile phones at the wheel causing more impairment than being at the drink-drive limit or under the influence of cannabis, the police need to target the large number of motorists continuing to flout the law."