More drivers using mobile phones

More drivers are using hand-held mobile phones than before tougher penalties were introduced two years ago, the Transport Research Laboratory has said.

It found 2.6% of car drivers used hand-held phones in 2006 - when fines rose to £60 and three points could be added to licences - compared with 2.8% now. Phone-using drivers are four times more likely to crash. The TRL said drivers' "reaction time is likely to be slower".

Its study in London involved almost 12,000 cars and taxis and 2,500 vans. The report's authors believe there is no reason to think the picture at the 30 sites studied in London is not the same right across the UK.

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source: BBC