Mobile driving ban: 'Increase the fine'

The public are in favour of steeper fines or licence suspensions for anybody caught driving while talking on a mobile phone handset, according to a poll conducted by silicon.com.

This follows the announcement of plans to double the current fine for the offence from £30 to £60.

Respondents to a silicon.com survey on the issue voted overwhelmingly for stiffer penalties with 36.7 per cent backing a bigger fine and 27.3 per cent backing a mandatory ban from driving.

Nearly three per cent of respondents even backed custodial prison sentences for those who break the law on driving with a handset to their ear while 5.3 per cent said they believe the current £30 fine is penalty enough.

silicon.com reader Andrew Lewis wrote: "Motorists using a handheld phone while driving are stupid. It is dangerous. The current fine has had little or no impact, so it needs to be raised. A hefty fine and points should hopefully bring this hazard home to some people.

Another reader, Nigel, goes one step further suggesting those who really can't go without chatting on their phone while they drive from A to B should be hit where it hurts them most.

"As well as the fine and points on the licence, the police should have the power to permanently confiscate the offending phone for crushing," he suggested.

But it's not just the drivers who have a part to play, with 14.1 per cent of respondents called for cheaper handsfree equipment from manufacturers.

A previous silicon.com poll, run in the immediate aftermath of the ban's parliamentary approval in July 2003, revealed overwhelming support for the ban. At that time respondents to the survey also backed a punishment of points on the licence and a fine of up to £250, suggesting there is still plenty of scope to increase the fine further.