The worst locations in England for motorists using their mobile phones behind the wheel have been revealed, with offenders set to face tougher action, as new AI-powered cameras are tested across the country.
A six-month trial is underway at a dozen sites in Scotland, which aims to gather evidence on how widespread distracted driving really is.
New research suggests that 81 per cent of Britons support the widespread rolling out AI cameras, with the survey by car insurance comparison site Quotezone highlighting growing concern about dangerous habits on the roads, with more than half the drivers surveyed (54 per cent) saying they have noticed an increase in people using mobile phones while driving.
Quotezone has gathered data from police forces across the country, to determine which areas dished out the most fixed penalty notices to dangerous drivers who use their handheld devices.
In terms of geographic offendes, drivers in the City of London were the worst offenders, thanks to their much smaller population size compared to other areas, with 2095 fines per 100,000 people in 2024.
The stats, obtained through a Freedom of Information request, showed that drivers in Durham (222), Cumbria (196), Suffolk (176) and Merseyside (171) were some of the other hotspots where Brits were caught using their phones.
At the other end of the scale, Bedfordshire drivers were the most well-behaved when it comes to staying off their phones, with just 23 offences for every 100,000 people.
In terms of regions, the North West topped the list (118), followed closely by the North East (109). Meanwhile, Yorkshire had the lowest number of fines relative to the population last year (52).
Harsher penalties for drivers were introduced in 2022, making it illegal to use a phone while driving for any reason, there are only three exemptions to this rule, emergency calls, using a phone for navigation and for payment purposes. Note, when using for navigation, the phone must be held in a cradle and not in the driver’s hand and when using a phone for payment, the vehicle must be stationary and the goods received immediately.*
Any driver caught breaking this law can expect to be hit with a £200 fine and six penalty points – if the case goes to court, drivers could be looking at a maximum fine of £1000.**
Incredibly, a staggering 92% of people admitted they have seen another driver using a mobile phone behind the wheel, according to a new Quotezone survey.
A Government report published last year highlighted that in 2022, 22 people were killed and 652 injured in road traffic collisions in Great Britain where the driver was assigned the contributory factor of using a mobile phone. It also showed that in 2023, there were 15,300 prosecutions for ‘using or causing others to use a handheld mobile phone whilst driving’.
With mobile phones play a significant factor when it comes to road traffic collisions in the UK, there have been some calls to ban mobile phones from cars completely, in a bid to boost road safety.
(Picture: Warwickshire Police)
