Hand-held mobile phone use by drivers to be prohibited

Measures to ban the use of hand-held mobile phones while driving are to be introduced before the end of the week, the Department of the Environment has confirmed.

The new regulations, which are to be signed into law by the Minister for State, Mr Robert Molloy, provide for a €435 fine for the first and second offences and on a third offence a three-month prison sentence and/or the fine.

The Garda will enforce the new regulations by means of ticket-fines, similar to those for speeding or parking offences. It is intended that the fines will also incur penalty points when the proposed points system comes into effect next October.

Hand-held CB radio, two-way walkie-talkie systems and similar equipment are all to be covered by the ban. However, hands-free systems such as in-car kits and ear/mouth pieces are not, at least initially.

The regulations bring the Republic into line with many European countries, Australia and some states in the US, which now have bans on the use of hand-held phones while driving.

Recent research compiled for the Government's High Level Group on Road Safety, which recommended the new regulations, indicates that only Portugal, among European countries, also has a ban on the use of hands-free kits in cars.

The High Level Group concluded that best practice was not to move to an outright ban on the use of mobile phones by drivers at this stage. It also noted that, while there were many benefits to mobile phones being carried or installed in cars, drivers should pull in where safe to do so, to make or receive a call.

More than 35 countries world-wide, where driving conditions can be said to be similar to this State's, have already banned the use of hand-held phones while driving.

These include Austria, Australia, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Isle of Man, Japan, Norway, Poland, South Africa and Switzerland.

The UK does not currently have a specific ban but relies on existing legislation in regard to driving with due care and attention, careless or dangerous driving.

Recent research in the US on behalf of the National Safety Council there found drivers displayed slower reaction times to hazards when using a hand-held unit. Signals were missed and drivers were generally more distracted than when listening to a radio or cassette/CD player.

Similar research for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents in the UK suggested drivers displayed signs of being distracted for up to 10 minutes after the call.

In Germany a three-part survey which calculated responses where the driver did not make or receive a call, when the driver was using a hand-held set and when the driver was using a hands-free set, found drivers using the hands-free kits made six times as many mistakes as those not using a phone. Those using a hand-held phone made 15 times as many mistakes as those not using a phone.

In Dublin a survey by the Fitzwilliam Post newspaper in September 2001 found one car out of every 24 observed featured the driver using a hand-held mobile (using was defined as talking on; listening on; or dialling on).