Christian Little

In the UK the penalty for using a mobile phone without hands free while driving is three points on your licence. However the government is in consideration at the moment about whether this should be raised from three to four points. This would mean three strikes and you lose your driving licence because the maximum amount allowed is twelve penalty points. The use of handheld mobile phones when driving has been banned since 2006 and those found guilty of this could not only receive penalty points but could face heavy fines too.

Despite the attempts by the UK government to crack down on handheld mobile phone use there has actually been a rise in the number of drivers involved in this activity recently. Initially the ban had some success in discouraging people, but now there has been a reversal and handheld phone use while driving is becoming more common. This trend is very disturbing as there have been reports which suggest that the chance of crashing a car while using a mobile phone is four times as likely as when not using one. And it has been reported that as well as making phone calls, some people have even been emailing or texting from their phones while they are driving.

This practice is very dangerous and must be tackled sooner rather than later. People once failed to heed the dangers of drink-driving, but these days few would take the risk. Using a mobile phone when driving needs to be seen in much the same way as driving under the influence of alcohol by people. People need to know that this can be just as dangerous as drink driving. If adding extra penalty points to people’s driving licence can cause a change in society then it seems likely that the government will adopt such plans. Hands-free sets are now easily available and are not prohibitively expensive.

It is irrelevant what type of driving license you currently have, if you are searching for a driving related job your future employer is within their rights to check what type of license you have . Driving licence is something that should be taken seriously. Make sure you always hold the appropriate driving license before applying for a particular driving job.