Fleets should ban all mobile phone use

Safety-focused businesses should ban employees from using all mobile phones while driving after a company director was believed to have become the first person in Britain to be convicted of careless driving over the use of a hands-free mobile phone.

The landmark court case has a significant impact for all businesses, as well as public sector fleets, says the Government-backed ‘Driving for Better Business’ campaign.

Although, only the use of a hand-held mobile phone while driving is against the law, best practice advice says that using a hands-free mobile phone is equally dangerous. Department for Transport research reveals that using a mobile behind the wheel makes drivers four times more likely to have a crash.

On Friday (February 20), Lynne-Marie Howden (43), a director and head of sales at business consultancy company Insights, was found not guilty of causing death by dangerous driving after crashing into another car on the A429 in Warwickshire in November 2007. The offence carries a possible jail sentence.

However, she was convicted on the lesser charge of careless driving and was banned from driving for 12 months and fined £2,000.

Warwick Crown Court had been told that the businesswoman, from Northamptonshire, had been involved in conversations on her hands-free mobile phone with her boyfriend and then a work colleague when driving her Mercedes CLK 220 at around 40 mph in a 60 mph speed limit she ploughed into an oncoming car on the opposte side of the road. The driver died at the scene of the crash.

Although it is legal to use a hands-free mobile phone, the prosecution claimed that the telephone calls distracted her enough to justify a death by dangerous driving charge.

Using a hand-held mobile phone while driving was made illegal in December 2003. Two years ago, in February 2007, the Government toughened the punishment for offenders to three penalty points and increased the fine from £30 to £60.

However, the Highway Code additionally says: “Using hands-free equipment is also likely to distract your attention from the road. It is far safer not to use any telephone while you are driving - find a safe place to stop first or use the voicemail facility and listen to messages later.”

In passing sentence in the case, Judge Richard Griffiths-Jones told Howden: “What happened to you in this case is a lesson to us all about the dangers of talking on the phone while we drive.”

The ‘Driving for Better Business’ campaign is delivered by RoadSafe on behalf of the Department for Transport and lawyer David Faithful, legal adviser to RoadSafe, said: “If a road crash occurs whether a person is using a hand-held or hands-free phone is irrelevant. The issue is whether the telephone conversation was sufficient to cause the driver to be distracted from concentrating on driving.

“I believe this is the first case where a conviction has been obtained as a result of a hands-free mobile phone conversation. The verdict sets a clear precedent and has a significant impact for the entire fleet industry and business community.”

And, he warned: “It is not just drivers who could find themselves prosecuted as a consequence of road crash caused as a result of a distracting phone conversation. If the conversation is work-related then their employer’s mobile phone policy will be examined by crash investigators. If there is no policy or it is not being managed effectively then the company could also be charged with offences.”

Had the crash occurred after the introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act in April 2008, then prosecutors may have considered pressing charges under that law.

Mr Faithful warned companies: “All drivers are at risk of being prosecuted if they use any mobile phone and crash. Additionally, if the call is work-related the employer could be prosecuted either because of their failure to have any mobile phone policy or failure to manage and monitor adherence to it.

“Fleets should manage and monitor as much as possible and best practice should mean that the use of any mobile phone is banned while driving. Staff should be told to switch off before they drive off or go to voicemail and listen to their messages later when parked in a safe place with the vehicle engine turned off.”

Caroline Scurr, director of the ‘Driving for Better Business’ campaign, added: “This court case should serve as a warning to every private and public sector fleet in the country that driving and mobile phone use are a lethal cocktail. Every fleet should consider if their current mobile phone policies are tough enough in the light of this incident. Too many drivers are still putting themselves and others in danger for the sake of a phone call.”