Driving Offences: Mobile Phones

(asked on 11th March 2015) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people have been prosecuted or cautioned for using a mobile phone whilst driving in each year since 2010 in (1) Essex, (2) Kent, and (3) London.


Answered by
Lord Faulks Portrait
Lord Faulks
This question was answered on 25th March 2015

The offence of using a mobile phone while driving is serious, risks harm to others and is wholly unacceptable.

The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts of offences related to using a mobile phone while driving, in selected police force areas from 2010 to 2013 (the latest available) can be viewed in the following table.

Criminal court proceedings data for 2014 are planned for publication in May 2015

Defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts of offences related to driving while using a mobile phone (1), in selected police force areas, 2010 to 2013 (2)(3)(4)

Police Force Area

Outcome

2010

2011

2012

2013

Essex

Proceeded against

2,301

1,663

1,076

1,433

Found guilty

2,160

1,567

997

1,359

Kent

Proceeded against

1,205

886

561

376

Found guilty

1,135

842

519

340

City of London (5)

Proceeded against

196

208

-

-

Found guilty

169

189

-

-

Metropolitan Police

Proceeded against

10,013

9,341

8,134

6,148

Found guilty

9,311

8,685

7,244

5,210

(1) Offences under RR 110 (1) - 110 (3) of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986

(2) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.

(3) 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 the courts and 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.

(4) The number of defendants found guilty in a particular year may exceed the number proceeded against as the proceedings in the magistrates' court took place in an earlier year and the defendants were found guilty at the Crown Court in the following year; or the defendants were found guilty of a different offence to that for which they were originally proceeded against.

(5) City of London Local Justice Area abolished on 31 December 2011, and merged into Central London Local Justice Area. These data recorded under Metropolitan Police henceforth

Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice.

Ref: PQC HL5624

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