Mobile OFF, seatbelt ON - forgetting is no excuse

The

1.  

   no excuse !

 

Dorset Road Safe partnership is reminding the county's drivers to follow a

simple routine before they set out on every journey: 'Mobile OFF, seatbelt ON'.

Figures

from the first five months of Dorset's 'no excuse' casualty reduction campaign

show that roughly one in three of the 8,100-plus motorists caught behaving

dangerously on our roads so far this year were either using their mobile phone

while driving or not wearing a seatbelt.

In the

East, North and West Dorset and Purbeck districts, drivers failing to wear a

seatbelt has been the most common offence detected, closely followed by either

using a mobile phone while driving or exceeding the speed limit in a 30mph

zone.

The

message from both Dorset's 'no excuse' and the Government's 'THINK!' campaign

is stark: all phone calls and text messages distract from driving. Research

shows you are four times more likely to crash if you use a mobile phone while

driving. And not wearing a seatbelt makes you twice as likely to die if you're

in a crash.

By taking

just a few seconds to switch your mobile OFF and put your seatbelt ON before

you drive, you are dramatically reducing your chances of killing or seriously

injuring yourself or other people.

National

research shows that:

• Your reaction times are up

  to 50 per cent slower when using a mobile phone while driving

• Using a mobile phone while

  driving means you are four times more likely to crash

• In the UK, nearly 300 lives

  would almost certainly have been saved in 2007 if all car occupants had

  been wearing a seatbelt. That's roughly one life a day

• One in every four drivers or

  front seat passengers killed were not wearing a seat belt. For rear seat

  passengers the figure is three in every four deaths

If you

forget or ignore this advice you could be caught any time, anywhere on Dorset's

roads by 'no excuse' teams of police officers and safety camera units in both

marked and unmarked vehicles.

It is

illegal to use a handheld mobile phone or similar device while driving. The

penalty is £60 and three penalty points. If the case goes to court, it's a

maximum fine of £1,000 (£2,500 if driving a bus, coach or heavy goods vehicle),

discretionary disqualification and three points.

Dorset

County Council road safety manager, Robert Smith, said:

"There

is simply no excuse for being distracted by your mobile while driving – so

switch it off. And you can double your and your passengers' chances of

surviving a crash by making sure everyone in both the front and back seats of

the car has their belt on."

Chief

Inspector Bob Nicholls, head of Dorset Police special operations, said:

"Most

drivers in Dorset have already made these two simple things a habit, helping

support our aim to make it safer to drive on our roads. But it's clear some

drivers are still needlessly endangering lives by thinking the risks and the

laws associated with mobile phones and seatbelts don't apply to them, because

we are catching them right across Dorset. As our teams are finding, the first

response from people who are caught for these offences is so often, 'I have no

excuse'."

So, for

those who still haven't made it a habit – before you drive off: 'Mobile OFF,

seatbelt ON'.