Page 7 - issue-27

Tougher penalties ahead
From the irst half of 2017, drivers caught calling, texting or using
an app while driving will receive six penalty points instead of the current three while the on-the-spot ine will double to £200.
The move means that newly qualiied drivers – who can only gain six points before being banned – could have their licences revoked if caught using their phones.
Drivers who are caught twice for the offence will automatically appear in court and face ines of up to £1,000 and at least a six- month driving ban.
In addition, the Government is
to launch a THINK! campaign to tackle this issue, to make it socially unacceptable like drink driving or
not wearing a seatbelt. Secretary of State
for Transport Chris
Grayling said: “As
technology develops,
mobile phones are
common place, but
we need to take
responsibility for our
actions and as drink or drug driving has become socially unacceptable, so must using mobile phones at the wheel.
“It may seem harmless when you are replying to a text, answering a call or using an app, but the truth is your actions could kill and cause untold misery to others.”
The move has been greeted by the RAC, which last week published research showing
that handheld mobile phone use while driving is now “at epidemic proportions”.
Road safety spokesman
Pete Williams said: “It is just as important that laws are seen to be enforced, and the decline in the numbers of dedicated road trafic police has only heightened the feeling that those who use
a handheld phone while driving simply get away with it.”
DTrue cost of tired driving
rivers falling asleep behind the accidents, while Surrey reported the tired. The experiment was carried out wheel caused 3,053 accidents highest number of fatalities. with the 27-year old triplets Robert, between 2013 and 2015, The irm’s research also included a Stephen and Patrick Davis, who were
resulting in 119 fatalities, according to a new study.
The research, obtained under
the Freedom of Information Act
by online bed retailer Time4sleep, shows that the worst year for accidents caused from driving while tired was 2014 with 1,080 reported cases, followed by 2013 with 938. Last year, the level of fatigue-related accidents dropped to 937.
Out of the 21 UK constituencies that responded to Time4Sleep’s Freedom of Information request, Thames
Valley recorded the highest number
of fatigue-related accidents over the three-year time period with nearly 400
nationwide survey that revealed 83% of UK drivers had admitted to driving while tired at least once in the past and a third of those felt they had put others at risk by doing so.
The online bed retailer also commissioned an experiment
that showed the risk of falling asleep behind the wheel increases signiicantly, even after short-term disruption to sleep.
Conducted in conjunction with
the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), the research shows driving without sleep is “akin to being drunk behind the wheel” and illustrates the full danger of hitting the road while
given a full night’s sleep, disrupted sleep, and no sleep, respectively. The disrupted sleep pattern was designed to imitate that of a parent with a newborn baby.
The triplets then participated in a TRL simulation that replicates a 90 minute motorway drive in a real car. Each driver was instructed to stay
in the inside lane of the three-lane motorway and drive at a constant speed of 60mph. Several test measures including reaction speed were implemented during the study. A video of the experiment taking place can be found here: https://www. time4sleep.co.uk/dont-drive-tired/
7 TVD lssue 27 2016