Cheshire Police will be out in force during the winter months to deliver road safety advice and to target motorists who are taking risks by using their mobile phone whilst driving.
The targeted enforcement campaign, which runs until the end of January, will involve the use of patrols to reinforce the message to drivers and the local community about driving whilst using a mobile phone in a bid to drive down the number of persons killed or seriously injured on the roads of Cheshire East as a result of someone having used a mobile phone.
Cheshire Police state that you are four times more likely to crash if you use a mobile phone whilst driving. Drivers are at risk whether they use the phone hands free or hand held as they are much less aware of what's happening on the road, fail to see road signs, react more slowly and can take longer to brake.
Tweeting and driving is a new risk. According to a recent survey of 1,000 motorists, it showed that while 92% knew it was illegal to use a hand held mobile whilst driving, as many as 45% sent text messages and made calls whilst at the wheel. 37% said they found it impossible to ignore mobile alerts whilst driving and 19% have rummaged through a handbag or pocket to try and find their phone whilst at the wheel.
Motorists are being increasingly distracted − messages being posted on Twitter are a cause for concern for the safety of other motorists and pedestrians. As many as 9% of motorists are using mobile internet services while driving.
A third of motorists still use a hand held phone while driving, despite more than a million convictions for the offence over the past decade, figures reveal today.
A Cheshire Police Road Traffic Officer states that "Our advice to motorists is to remove the temptation by switching off all mobile phones, so that you can focus on the road ahead."
In a study carried out by a professor, the reaction times of drivers in a driving simulator demonstrated how being distracted by a mobile phone whilst behind the wheel showed much slower reaction times than if the driver had been drinking alcohol. The evidence showed that even a slight increase in reaction time will result in a driver travelling closer to the hazard by some distance before a driver reacts.
Comments
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Seriously I have to agree, these people are potential killers, how selfish are they?
Ask yourself this, " Are you that important you have to take a call?" You will no doubt answer no, SO DON'T USE IT!
It is (not yet) against the Law to use a hand-free mobile (normally bluetooth), secured in a holder, if it only requires 1 button push to receive the call.
To pedestrians, that's no more than slightly annoying. In a driver, it can lead to tragedy.
Going back to my pedestrian analogy; two people walking down the street having a convesation will walk at normal speed and be aware of others around them and if the conversation turns serious (maybe raised voices etc) they'll generally stop walking and face each other - quite different to the mobile phone-talkng pedestrian who can be engrossed in his / her phone conversation.
The new roundabout outside Waters (old Ciba geigy) site Altrincham Road, very weird camber
Arrangement likely to unbalance cars in slippery conditions and send them off into the scenery !!
Some months ago I dashed for the train in Manchester and got it along with another traveller, she was on the phone and loudly told the person she was speaking to that she would see them in Cheadle Hulme in 20 minutes. She continued her conversation for the carriage to hear. It went on and on about the trivia of her day, until, 20 minutes later, she stood up and said "Right I'm coming into the station and can see you on the platform"........... just what do these people have to talk about when they meet face to face.