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Driving Offences: Mobile Phones

Answer

It became a specific offence to use a mobile phone while driving in December 2003. The following table gives the figures for 2003, 2004 and 2005, the latest available. The figures for 2006 will be available later in the year.

Fixed penalty notices issued¹ for the offence of use of hand held mobile phone while driving² by police force area, England and Wales, 2003-05
Number of offences
	Fixed penalty notices issued
Police force area	2003	2004	2005
Avon and Somerset	³—	1,902	2,502
Bedfordshire	10	579	944
Cambridgeshire	³—	219	1,347
Cheshire	³—	2,689	2,891
Cleveland	13	1,066	1,955
Cumbria	13	528	1,021
Derbyshire	13	978	1,501
Devon and Cornwall	345	796	1,482
Dorset	³—	521	657
Durham	³—	504	963
Essex	³—	2,431	4,369
Gloucestershire	147	632	1,208
Greater Manchester	³—	8,166	12,904
Hampshire	54	2,032	4,078
Hertfordshire	³—	2,526	3,923
Humberside	³—	381	1,202
Kent	15	1,707	4,829
Lancashire	34	1,719	3,079
Leicestershire	17	759	254
Lincolnshire	7	1,529	2,514
London, City of	45	137	1,647
Merseyside	³—	1,836	5,684
Metropolitan police	681	13,581	18,035
Norfolk	17	887	904
Northamptonshire	1	297	971
Northumbria	56	1,271	2,409
North Yorkshire	5	720	1,289
Nottinghamshire	³—	653	1,637
South Yorkshire	28	1,978	3,978
Staffordshire	12	264	2,346
Suffolk	42	978	1,707
Surrey	164	2,213	3,575
Sussex	³—	546	1,105
Thames Valley	25	3,716	7,111
Warwickshire	³—	621	918
West Mercia	³—	2,200	5,246
West Midlands	144	3,864	5,065
West Yorkshire	³—	2,368	4,272
Wiltshire	³—	700	1,226
Dyfed Powys	³—	363	628
Gwent	³—	517	938
North Wales	³—	999	424
South Wales	³—	1,603	2,030
England and Wales	1,888	73,976	126,768
¹ Covers tickets paid where there is no further action.
² Offences under the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, Regulations 110 (1), 110 (2) and 110 (3). Introduced 1 December 2003.
3 Nil.
Note:
Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

189618; 472 c1835-6W

Session

2007-08

Subjects

Mobile phones Road traffic offences

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk