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lights in clear conditions, made up the remaining
12 per cent. "We did this survey two
years ago and it is a sad reflection on the
attitude of drivers that mobile phone abuse has
since moved up the list of driver
irritants," said IAM Chief Executive
Christopher Bullock.
"Is that phone call so urgent that it's
worth risking your life - let alone the lives of
others? These 'phoney drivers' are a major
irritant and a road safety hazard. We know the
police act when they see this offence being
committed. But it often seems to the responsible
motorists that these one-armed merchants are
getting away with it," said Mr Bullock.
"The IAM has until now resisted calls for
special legislation to deal with drivers using
hand-held phones, arguing that there are already
sufficient powers. But we should be gathering
hard data about how many crashes are caused by
drivers on hand-held phones. STATS 19, the road
accident data sheet is
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the place to do this
and we would like the police and the DTLR to
include these details, where hand-held phones
have been a distraction leading to an
accident." Mr Bullock restated the IAM's
long standing car phone advice to drivers,
pointing out that the IAM is not anti car-phone -
but it is anti dangerous driving.
"Never use a hand held phone when you are
driving. Even if you have a hands-free system,
you should avoid using the phone while driving as
it distracts you from the
| Call for articles Members
and friends of the East Lancashire
Advanced Motorists group are welcome to
submit articles or suggest topics for
inclusion in future newsletters. Articles
should not consist of more than 2000
words and may be edited for publication.
Articles should preferably, be emailed to
elancashire@groups.iam.org.uk.
Alternatively, they may be posted direct
to the group's secretary.
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main task. If you
receive a call while driving, keep your
conversation short and tell the caller that you
can't talk at the moment. Then find somewhere
legal, safe and convenient to return the
call," he said.  .
Answers to theory test questions in the
last newsletter are 1) c, 2) a, 3) a & e.
Shorts
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The Sunday Times
dated 22nd April 2001 refers to a French
study reported in the British Medical
Journal as showing that up to 20% of
motorway accidents are caused by driver
fatigue. |
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Please Re-cycle
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