Mobile Phone Motorists Face Two Years in Jail

Motorists who use mobile phones could face up to two years in jail under new guidelines to be published today.

Drivers in England and Wales who cause death on the roads could also be jailed for life under new measures drafted by the Crown Prosecution Service.

The new guidance means the worst cases of death by dangerous driving could be prosecuted as manslaughter, which carries a maximum life sentence.

Using a mobile phone, satnav or an MP3 player while at the wheel will be treated as dangerous driving instead of careless driving, carrying a maximum sentence of two years in prison. The penalty for careless driving is a community service order or a fine.

Current guidelines say manslaughter is "very rarely appropriate" in road death cases but the change will mean alternative charges could be brought.

For example, someone who has killed on the roads could be charged with manslaughter as well as causing death by dangerous driving, leaving a jury open to return the lower charge if they find manslaughter has not been proved.

Sheila Ranger, head of campaigns at the RAC, said: "This is for people who are doing the most outrageous acts on their phone. We still see terrible crashes where people have been texting, driving into the back of stationary queues because they haven't seen them.

"It's entirely appropriate to have this charge available for the most extreme circumstances."

Rob Gifford, executive director of the parliamentary advisory council on transport safety, told BBC Radio 4's Today program: "It's not every single driver using a mobile phone while driving who faces jail, it's those few drivers whose behavior leads them to have a crash when they are using a mobile at the same time.

"What people are being reminded is that driving is a complicated activity and it is better to concentrate on driving than talking."

When the measures were first announced in September, the director of public prosecutions, Ken Macdonald QC, said: "We accept that in cases where there is clear evidence that danger has been caused by their [mobile phones] use - such as texting while driving - then our policy should spell out that the starting point for charging will be dangerous driving."

A consultation paper on the measures, published last year, said other aspects of bad driving may also need to be treated as dangerous driving and carry a jail term. These include driving too close to the vehicle in front, tuning a car radio, running a red light, "undertaking" and applying make-up or lighting a cigarette on the move.