Police lack resources to target drivers on phones

Police lack resources to target drivers on phones

New figures show that the number of Islanders stopped for driving while using a phone has dropped by 50% over the past three years.

Since 2016, States and honorary police have recorded 1,152 incidents of drivers using phones. In that year 444 instances of phone use were noted, with that number falling to 183 in 2018.

So far this year 49 offences have been recorded. A States police spokesman said: ‘While we hope that the reduction can be attributed to enforcement activity and the dangers of mobile phone use while driving being better understood, we must acknowledge that competing priorities mean that we are simply unable to devote the time we would like to tackling mobile phone use and other driving offences.

‘Despite this, we will continue to focus assets on combatting this where possible and will always seek to identify if use of a mobile phone is a factor in a road-traffic collision.’

The figures showed that since the start of 2016, drivers have been fined a total of £118,840 for using their phone at the wheel.

Of the cases recorded, 178 were given words of advice and 947 went to court or to a parish-hall inquiry.

In 2016, 408 fines totalling £40,205 were handed to motorists who had broken the law. However, a year later, despite fewer fines – 279 – being issued, drivers caught using phones were collectively ordered to pay £44,910.

Money raised through court-issued fines gets forwarded to the government, while fines following parish-hall inquiries remain with the parish where the infraction occurred.

The States police spokesman added: ‘The Centeniers and the court will decide on the penalty, including caution, written caution or a fine.

‘That said, police officers do have discretion and may offer educational advice about driving and offences at the time of any incident and [may] not report the driver.

‘A note will be made on the police system that this has happened. This may happen for a variety of reasons and each case is judged on its own merits.’

Police have also reiterated a number of warnings to the public, including not answering or making calls on hands-free phone equipment.

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