But the data, which has been released to the JEP, still shows that just one in ten motorists caught holding or using their devices are sent to court – despite new orders from the Island’s Attorney General.
The number of people caught for the offence has steadily dropped month-on-month this year, during which the States police has run a targeted campaign to crackdown on the offence and a woman was tried, and cleared, of killing a three-year-old boy as a result of dangerous driving in relation to her using her phone.
Rebekah Le Gal admitted using a device to send a text moments before she hit Clinton Pringle on Tunnell Street, but was found not guilty of the charge and instead admitted a lesser offence of death by careless driving. She was later sentenced to eight months in jail suspended for two years and was banned from driving for 30 months.
Hugh Raymond, a Centenier in Trinity and head of the Honorary Police Association, said the gradual fall in drivers caught with their phones was not down to fewer honorary police patrols, as they were as numerous as ever.
‘Forces are out there doing the road checks, but the fact is we don’t see as many. We had a check in Trinity outside the Zoo last week and there were 836 cars,’ he said.
‘Not one person was stopped for a mobile phone. In previous checks of that size we might have expected to find at least one.’
Between January and September this year, a total of 257 drivers have been stopped for using or holding their phones. Of that number, 28 have been referred to court, while the rest have been dealt with at parish hall inquiries.
About a fifth of the total number of drivers caught in the first nine months of this year were stopped in March (55) when the States police ran a seven-day awareness campaign. Since then, the number of people caught has fallen month-on-month from 29 each in April and May, to 21 in June – the month in which Le Gal stood trial.
Since then 18, 17 and 14 motorists were stopped in July, August and September respectively.
Throughout 2016, 444 drivers were stopped for using or holding their phones – 22 were referred to court.
In April this year, Attorney General Robert MacRae issued a directive to all of the Island’s Centeniers ordering that certain cases must be dealt with in court. They included; if a phone played a role in a driving collision, if the use of a phone impaired the driver’s ability to control the vehicle, if the use of a phone involved reading, typing or sending any message, if the use of a phone occurred while the driver was in control of a heavy goods vehicle, or if the driver was driving and carrying passengers for reward.
Mr MacRae has made it clear that in cases where a driver makes or receives a short phone call, or there is no impact on the driver’s driving ability, minor offences can be dealt with at parish hall inquiries.
The maximum fine that a Centenier can issue following a parish hall inquiry is £200 – increased from £150 in April.
