Question of the Fortnight
How can we stop drivers using mobile phones?
N o subject has united Computeractive readers more in the past few months than the irresponsibility of people who use a phone while driving. We’ve received plenty of emails from readers praising the Government’s proposals to introduce tougher penalties for those breaking the law. But you seem sceptical that motorists will change their behaviour. Campaigners too believe it’ll take more than longer prison sentences and higher fines.
The Government agrees, and wants to make it harder – and maybe even impossible – for drivers to use phones. In January, ministers will meet with phone manufacturers and mobile networks to tell them that their devices should come with ‘drive safe’ modes, similar to the ‘airplane mode’ that limits what a phone can do during a flight. With around 20 deaths a year attributed to drivers being distracted by phones, it’s felt that restrictions are urgently needed.
What’s particularly concerning ministers is that using a phone while driving, which was made illegal in 2003, doesn’t yet have the same social stigma as drink driving. Indeed, more people are doing it. The RAC’S annual report on motoring ( www.rac. co.uk/report-on-motoring), published in September, found that the number of drivers who admitted to using a mobile phone had increased from eight per cent in 2014 to 31 per cent two years later. Fourteen per cent of drivers think it’s acceptable to make a quick phone call – up from seven per cent.
Perhaps a more worrying development is that drivers are doing things on their phones that are more distracting than simply making calls. Almost 20 per cent admitted they had sent a text or email, or posted a message on social media. As phones become more advanced, capable of more involving tasks, drivers will find it even harder to keep their eyes on the road.
The Government wants to talk to phone companies because they’ve shown little desire to act on their own. A separate report commissioned by the RAC Foundation last summer concluded that few companies would introduce a ‘drive safe’ mode voluntarily because it would restrict what their phones can do, placing them at a commercial disadvantage. Instead they think that the onus should be on drivers to make sure they don’t break the law.
There’s also the question of how the technology would work. One option is for phones to have a motionsensitive app that turns off the device when it detects the movement of a car. Apple patented such a system in 2014 for its iphone, although it hasn’t been implemented.
Safety campaigners want the Government to force phone companies to add ‘drive safe’ features. Gary Rae from road-safety charity Brake said that “it just needs the political will to make this happen”.
As well as legal measures, the Government will use psychological tactics. It aims to make using a phone while driving as socially unacceptable as drink driving, or not wearing a seat belt.
Baroness Newlove, the Government’s victims’ commissioner, said: “We need better education and hardhitting messages to ensure the next generation know what could happen”. Ministers are planning to run a ‘Think!’ road-safety campaign focused on texting while driving.
While stronger deterrents and social pressure will help, the long-term solution to phone use while driving will surely be a technological one. We hope the Government finds time in 2017 to tackle this growing menace.
Nearly a fifth of drivers admit to sending a text or email