Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to ban all hand-held phone use while driving; and what research they have undertaken, if any, on the impact of hands-free phone usage on the safety of driving.

The Government has recently published a consultation which proposes broadening the offence of using a hand-held mobile phone while driving so that it covers “standalone” or “flight mode” functions as well as the interactive communication functions captured at the moment. The consultation ends on 17 January 2021.

We published, at the same time, a report of analysis of data from the U-Drive naturalistic driving project, exploring mobile phone use whilst driving more broadly, both hand-held and hands-free. This qualitative research helps us to understand both the nature and extent of distraction from mobile phone use while driving. Tightening up the offence of using a hand-held mobile phone while driving is one way of addressing the challenge we face.