New driving laws come into force today that effectively ban you from doing anything that causes distraction when you are driving your car.
The 'Causing Death By Careless Driving' law, which prohibits things like map-reading, eating and tuning the car radio, will now carry a jail sentence if a driver kills through "avoidable distraction".
Originally, the law carried a maximum of a £5,000 fine, but this has been upped to five years in jail for the offence.
Texting could land you 14 years
It's worse news for mobile phone users, as things like text messaging and answering the phone while driving will now come under the offence of "gross distraction", which means that if a driver kills while using their phone, they could find themselves locked up from anywhere between two and 14 years.
Justice Minister Maria Eagle spoke about the new tightening of the law and said: "Drivers who kill through carelessness will no longer be able to walk away from court with just a fine.
"A moment's distraction can make the difference between life and death."
Your comments (5) Click to add a new comment
blueskythinker
August 19th 2008
5. hmm. Should have really thought about that before my diatribe.
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antcom
August 18th 2008
4. Err Blueskythinker what a stupid idea lets encourage people to take pictures whilst driving!!!
P.S
Do you drive a BMW?
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robertjamespaul
August 18th 2008
3. why are these always in bmws? its always the way tho!
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blueskythinker
August 18th 2008
2. Is there an SMS upload service where we can take photos of idiots driving while texting? If not there should be, so we can name and shame them.
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zoydwheeler
August 18th 2008
1. And so it should. I'm utterly sick of seeing morons (often in BMWs, not sure if there is a link) of lane swerving at speed while texting or with a phone glued to their idiot ears. Just use a bluetooth or a hands free kit. It's THAT EASY.
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