In-Cab Technology
Driving is the most dangerous work activity that most people do. Over 100 people are killed or seriously injured every week in crashes involving someone who was driving or riding for work. This includes other road users, such as passengers, pedestrians, and riders, as well as at-work drivers and riders themselves.
HSE ‘Driving at Work’ Guidelines state that “health and safety law apply to on-the-road work activities and the risks should be effectively managed within a health and safety system.” Therefore, employers must conduct suitable risk assessments and ensure that:
Mobile Phones
Mobile phones are now used in many different ways, including to:
High mileage and company car drivers are more likely than most to use a mobile phone while driving, and very often they are using the phone for work purposes.
However, a substantial body of research proves that using a hand-held or hands-free mobile phone while driving is a significant distraction that substantially increases the risk of crashing.
Although using a hand-held phone causes the greatest distraction, using a hands-free phone does not significantly reduce the risk. It still causes distraction because the driver is concentrating on two thinking tasks at the same time and often taking their eyes off the road to look at the screen. Drivers who use a hand-held or a hands-free mobile phone:
These drivers are also four times more likely to crash, injuring or killing themselves and/or other people.
THE LAW
Hand-held Phones
It is illegal to use a hand-held mobile phone while driving. This includes using the phone for calls, texts, emails, photos, to go online or for any other reason. The penalty for doing so is a £200 fine and six penalty points.
New drivers, who have had their driving licence for less than two years, will have their licence revoked after a single offence, and have to obtain a provisional licence, only drive when displaying L-plates and while under supervision until they have taken and passed the theory and practical driving tests again.
It is also an offence for someone (e.g., a manager) to “cause or permit” a driver to use a hand-held mobile phone while driving. Therefore, employers can be held liable as well as the individual driver if they require employees to use a hand-held phone while driving.
Hands-free Phones
Although using a hands-free phone while driving is not specifically illegal, drivers who do so could be charged with ‘failing to have proper control of their vehicle’. The penalty is a fine of up to £1,000, three penalty points and a discretionary disqualification.
Other Distractions
Although using a mobile phone while driving is one of the most common distractions, many other activities, such as eating, drinking, smoking, reading a map, as well as in-vehicle technology, can distract a driver and create a crash risk. In such cases, drivers could also be charged with ‘failing to have proper control of their vehicle’.
The police will act against any driver who they see using a mobile phone while driving and issue a fixed penalty notice (£200 fine and 6 penalty points) or summons them to court where they are likely to receive a more stringent penalty on conviction.
The police also check phone records when investigating fatal and serious crashes to determine if a driver was using a phone. If they were, the courts normally treat this as an aggravating factor when deciding the level of sentence (including imprisonment if someone was killed or seriously injured) to impose because the driver was avoidably distracted.
Employers who require their staff to use any mobile phone while driving for work could be prosecuted under health and safety law if an investigation determined that using a phone contributed to a crash. Victims could also pursue claims for compensation in the civil courts.
This guide gives simple advice on how employers and line managers can ensure their staff do not use a mobile phone when driving for work. An example ‘Mobile Phones and Driving Policy’ is attached. This can be adopted as written or adapted to suit your organisation’s needs, as a stand-alone policy or incorporated into a wider ‘Driving for Work’ policy.
Never use a hand-held mobile phone or microphone when driving. You can be prosecuted as a result of doing so and it is dangerous. It affects your ability to concentrate, to steer and to change gear. Using hands-free equipment is also likely to distract your attention from the road.
It is far safer not to use any telephone while you are driving – find a safe place to stop first, but never stop on the hard shoulder of a motorway to make a call.
In-cab route guidance and congestion warning systems can be distracting. Do not operate, adjust, or view such systems if it will distract your attention while you are driving.
Offenders caught using hand-held mobile phones or being distracted by other equipment whilst driving can be fined £200 and receive six penalty points on their driving licence.
NB: Although it is still legal to use a ‘Hands Free’ phone, please note that the use of any ‘Hands Free’ Phone, MP3 player, PDA, Car phone Reprogramming System or Sat Nav whilst driving will likely render you to be prosecuted for ‘Failure to be in proper control of a vehicle’.
If stopped by the Police when seen doing so, this may result in 6 points on your licence as well as a substantial fine. Therefore, any company driver receiving an incoming call should ignore the call, proceed to a safe place to park, and switch off the engine before returning the call.
For these purposes:
Hand-held device – is something that “is or must be held at some point during the course of making or receiving a call or performing any other interactive communication function”
Using a Device – is “similar” to a mobile phone, where it performs an ‘interactive communication’ function by transmitting and receiving data. I.e., GPS satellite navigation or tracking device – see attached Sat Nav Policy & Procedure.
In addition, you could be liable to prosecution for the more serious offences of careless driving or dangerous driving where it can be shown that a collision or poor driving was caused by failure to have proper control of the vehicle because of some distracting activity, such as reading a map, eating a sandwich or taking or receiving a phone call, even if via a hands-free phone.
The penalties for careless or dangerous driving are substantially higher than for the specific offence of using a hand-held mobile phone whilst driving, and where that behaviour results in a death, the penalties for causing death by careless or dangerous driving or manslaughter include lengthy prison sentences – currently a maximum 14 years.
NB: The Highway Code says you must exercise proper control of your vehicle at all times.
It is illegal to hold a phone or sat nav while driving or riding a motorcycle. You must have hands-free access, such as:
The device must not block your view of the road and traffic ahead.
You must stay in full control of your vehicle. The police can stop you if they think you are not in control because you are distracted, and you can be prosecuted.
The law still applies to you if you are:
When you can use a hand-held phone
You can use a hand-held phone if either of these apply:
Penalties
You can get six penalty points and a £200 fine if you use a hand-held phone when driving. You will also lose your licence if you passed your driving test within the last two years.
You can get three penalty points if you do not have a full view of the road and traffic ahead or proper control of the vehicle.
You can also be taken to court where you can:
Using a phone or a sat nav when driving
It is illegal to hold a phone or sat nav while driving or riding a motorcycle. You must have hands-free access, such as:
The device must not block your view of the road and traffic ahead.
You must stay in full control of your vehicle at all times. The police can stop you if they think you are not in control because you are distracted and you can be prosecuted.
The law still applies to you if you are:
When you can use a hand-held phone
You can use a hand-held phone if either of these apply:
Penalties
You can get 6 penalty points and a £200 fine if you use a hand-held phone when driving. You will also lose your licence if you passed your driving test in the last 2 years.
You can get 3 penalty points if you don’t have a full view of the road and traffic ahead or proper control of the vehicle.
You can also be taken to court where you can:
