Just three convictions for texting on the road
A PALTRY three convictions were recorded for texting or browsing while driving over the last three years, according to courts service figures.
Difficulties in proving a person was actually using the phone appear to be behind to small number of convictions.
On the upside however, the figures show that more than 50,000 people were hit with fixed-charge notices for holding a mobile phone.
ONLY three people have been convicted for texting or using the internet on their phone while driving in the last three years under a new law, the Irish Daily Mail can reveal.
The law, introduced in 2014, decreed that motorists caught texting or ‘accessing information’ on their phones would face a mandatory court appearance and slapped with a fine of up to €1,000 for a first offence.
While three drivers were convicted for texting or emailing while driving in 2016 – none has been convicted since.
The law was introduced in 2014 by then transport minister Leo Varadkar to close a loophole which meant drivers could escape fines and penalties if they were texting
or browsing on a phone which was resting in a cradle on their dashboard, rather than holding it directly in their hands.
By comparison, a driver caught using a phone while driving faces a fine of €60 and three penalty points with the fine rising to €90 and five penalty points if unsuccessfully
challenged in court. At the time, the Department of Transport said a mandatory court appearance for browsing regardless of whether the phone is in a cradle or in your hand coupled with a ‘severe financial penalty’ was a more effective deterrent.
However gardaí appear slow to use the new law due to concerns about the gathering of evidence to support a prosecution.
Drivers often text or browse on their phones in their lap, making it difficult for gardaí to have a clear enough view to state definitively in court that a driver was texting or emailing. Gardaí also don’t have the power to seize and examine a mobile phone from someone they suspect of texting while behind the wheel. This means they cannot check if the phone was being used prior to the driver being stopped by them.
By contrast, more than 50,000 people were hit with fixed charge notices for holding a mobile phone while driving in the last two years – an average of 68 motorists a day. A fixed charge notice allows the driver of a vehicle who has been
detected committing certain offences under the Road Traffic Acts to pay a fixed charge or fine as an alternative to going to court to answer the driving charge.
A further 4,843 drivers were convicted of holding a mobile phone since 2016 after failing to pay the fixed-charge notice. Some 1,886 drivers were convicted in 2016, along with 1,657 in 2017 and 1,300
in the first ten months of 2018. They received five penalty points and fines of up to €2,000. The figures were obtained following an FOI request to the Courts Service. The huge number of drivers stopped by gardaí is part of the ‘growing phenomenon’ of people taking selfies and live-streaming while at the wheel.
In a recent poll, one in four motorists admitted to scrolling through platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. A recent poll revealed that one in four drivers admit to scrolling through social media platforms such as Facebook.
The survey of 1,000 adults by Allianz Ireland found 25% of motorists have used the internet or social media while driving, with people admitting to browsing Facebook and even videoing themselves behind the wheel.
Road safety chiefs warned that people are four times more likely to crash if on their smartphone while driving.
A spokeswoman for the Road Safety Authority told the Mail: ‘While it’s disappointing to see so many drivers being detected using their phone while driving, it does clearly show the gardaí are enforcing the law in relation to this.’
In December, an assembly hall full of primary school children heard from Garda Commissioner Drew Harris who asked them to raise their hands if they had seen their parents using their phones while driving. Almost every child in the room raised their arm.
50,000 were caught holding phones
USING your mobile phone to send texts or check social media while driving is the equivalent of waving a loaded gun. Taking your eyes off the road even for a split second can cause a fatal accident, yet every day, you will see other drivers taking this incredibly dangerous risk.
Indeed, if you are honest, you probably would concede you have on occasion done it yourself.
A loophole in the law was closed in 2014, after it was realised that the existing ban on holding a mobile phone while driving did not cover those who used the devices in dashboard- or window-mounted cradles. The penalties for sending messages or surfing the net while driving are justifiably severe, with a mandatory court appearance and a fine of up to €1,000 for a first offence.
Today, though, we reveal that just three people have been convicted of the offence, mostly because gardaí have no power to seize phones to check if they were being used when the driver was stopped. And, while the service provider could do so, the forensic follow-up work needed is time-consuming.
However, what we also know is that more than 50,000 drivers were hit with fines of €60 and three penalty points after being pulled over for the lesser offence of simply holding their phones.
Clearly, a phone is not a pacifier – no-one holds one just for comfort – so it is blatantly obvious that anyone with one hand on the wheel and the phone in the other is actually using it.
At this point, almost every car has USB or Bluetooth connectivity for hands-free voice calls, so the clear conclusion is that people holding phones are actually looking at them, and not at the road ahead.
The harsher law clearly is not working, and the evidence shows that it is not a deterrent. We have got tougher than ever on drink driving and speeding, and the time has come for stronger action on mobile phone use too.
The Government must look immediately at imposing the much stricter penalty on what, as things now stand, is the lesser offence.