APCC responds to Government announcement to review driving with a handheld mobile phone
APCC Road Safety Lead, Alison Hernandez PCC, welcomes the Government’s announcement to review the offence of driving with a handheld mobile device.
“I am pleased to see the positive response from the Government to the Transport Committee’s important recommendations.
“Much more needs to be done to improve road safety and there is not an area of the country that is unaffected by this problem. As directly elected representatives of the public, Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) regularly hear of the concerns raised by local communities about road safety issues in their locality with use of mobiles phones whilst driving ranking highly amongst them.
“The Government has recognised the valuable contribution PCCs can make to road safety and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) has been working closely with partners, including the Department for Transport, National Police Chiefs Council and Highways England, to promote increased enforcement and post collision response as road safety priority areas.
“Earlier this year, the APCC supported the Department for Transport in distributing funding to a number of police forces to enable them to receive video footage of dangerous driving from the public. This allows more action against dangerous road users. The APCC looks forward to working with Government at how to improve the enforcement of mobile phone offences”.