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MORE THAN 14,000 people have been caught on their mobile phones while driving so far this year.
And they haven’t just been making and taking calls. Posing for selfies, updating Facebook and live-streaming their every move are just some of the other things that Irish drivers have been found doing this year.
Commenting on the figures published by TheJournal.ie today, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) said that distracted driving is a factor in as many as 20 to 30% of all collisions in this country - and the current biggest distraction for drivers is their smartphones.
“Use of mobile phones while driving is a big problem on Irish roads. Too many people still drive while on their phone – taking calls, texts, Snapchats, even updating their social media channels and checking their emails while driving,” said Moyagh Murdock, chief executive of the RSA.
Data provided by the Department of Justice shows that as of 30 June 2017, 14,046 drivers have been given Fixed Charge Notices (FCNs) for using a mobile phone while driving.
If that trend continues the numbers will be on par to what we saw over the past two years, meaning that despite information campaigns, we’re not getting better at putting down the smartphones.
The number of FCNs issued to those caught holding a mobile phone while driving in 2015 was 28,777. The corresponding figure last year was 28,121.
Huge issue
A recent survey commissioned by Aviva Insurance found that 84% of drivers in Ireland admit to using some form of electronic device while driving.
“Mobile phone use has become much more complex now,” explained Murdock.
It is not just a matter of making a phone call… People are checking their social media, they are actually streaming and uploading videos, they are actually putting photos up. Crazy behaviour.
Murdock says the RSA has seen this manifested in rear-ending accidents as well as more serious ones where people are injured or killed.
“The mobile phone is a big risk these days and people just aren’t heeding the message and ending up in a dreadful situation.”
The Aviva survey, which polled drivers from 13 countries around the world, found that the number of Irish drivers who admit to texting behind the wheel is double that of the UK.
It is against the law to drive a car while holding a mobile phone under Section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 2006.
What’s the punishment?
Currently, a person caught holding a phone while driving will be hit with a punishment of three penalty points, rising to five if the penalty is unsuccessfully challenged in court. They are also dealt with by way of a Fixed Charge Notice, which range from €60 to €90.
And when you look at the stats, we do appear to have a problem with putting the phone away.
Last year, according to gardaí, an average of 76 people were detected for mobile phone offences every day.
So, how can we deter drivers from using their mobile phones when driving?
One car manufacturer has decided to reward drivers that put down their mobile phone.
Toyota Ireland, in partnership with the RSA, has launched a new mobile phone app which aims to reward all drivers for putting their phone face down when driving, allowing them to redeem the points for a free tea or coffee at Topaz Re Store outlets.
The Face It Down app has been endorsed by the Irish Road Victims Association. It allows drivers to accrue points which can be redeemed against a complimentary hot drink for every 350 kilometres travelled.
A total of 250 bonus points will be awarded for a user’s first successful journey with bonus points also given at interim periods.
Murdock said that the RSA was supportive of the campaign, and reiterated the message that being on a phone call will make you four times more likely to crash, while texting makes people 23 times more likely to be involved in a collision.
Raising awareness
This isn’t the first initiative that has tried to raise awareness about the dangers of using a phone while driving. The RSA has already launched a number of campaigns, including this video last year.
This isn’t just a problem in Ireland.
As far back as 2010, campaigns in the US – such as the TV host Oprah Winfrey’s ‘No Phone Zone’ movement – attempted to raise awareness with hard-hitting interviews from victims whose lives had been destroyed in just a split second.
Due to drivers flouting the laws in the UK, the authorities there decided to introduce stricter penalties.
It has been illegal to use your mobile phone while driving in the UK since December 2003, but new laws were introduced on 1 March of this year.
The punishments for using your phone behind the wheel were doubled, increasing to six penalty points and a £200 (€220) fine. The driver could also face disqualification.
Transport Minister Shane Ross told TheJournal.ie in Februrary that he is open to increasing penalty points for some offences if it saves lives.
He said his department is reviewing the new laws in the UK to see if possible changes can be made to the Irish system.
Ross said his department would monitor the UK laws “to see how they’re going, and we will change them if necessary”.
“I have no problem in increasing penalty points if I thought it was necessary. It’s because there is human life involved,” he said.
The minister has also discussed how to tackle mobile phone use while driving with families of the victims of road accidents. A spokesperson told TheJournal.ie that the department is looking at dealing with the issue but admitted their main focus at present is tackling the issue of drink-driving.
Last week, gardaí announced that drivers caught for even the most minor offences will now be subject to a drink-driving breath test.
A survey conducted by the RSA identified that a group of ‘high risk drivers’, especially those that admit to using a mobile phone while driving, are twice as likely to have admitted to drink driving in the past 12 months.
Garda Chief Superintendent Aidan Reid said driving while using a mobile phone is a “high risk activity”, stating that drivers texting behind the wheel is a particular problem.
“They should not be holding a mobile phone while driving. Anyone that is found carrying out this offence – or whether it is breaking a red light, speeding – are subject and will be subject to breath testing to identify if they have been drinking,” he said.
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122 distressed mortgage holders.
Well thats everyone in my estate sorted, now onto the next estate…
That’s the ground floor of my block only 5 more floors to go and 7 more blocks, at this rate it will be 2030 by the time it’s sorted
Repossession is not a solution.
Some want it as a solution ,as in , get on with their life .
Well done to David Hall and everyone at IMHO for taking this initiative and trying to help people. Its a pity Enda and the rest of his pathetic government buried their heads in the sand about mortgage distress. None of them have any morals or allegiance to the Irish people.
Repossession is the only solution for those who are strategically not paying
I put a proposal to the bank sell house for 200k and I pay back the 30k as in negative equity over the rest of the lifetime of the mortgage.
They said no lmao. What a bunch of pric*s. So my choice is to throw the keys at them and and tell them shove it.
They can’t legally stop you selling your home at the market price. Don’t let that one go. Get back onto them!
The issue (as far as they see it) is that the €30k is unsecured & if you were to default, claim insolvency or go bankrupt, there’s nothing they can do to get it back.
This is 0.001 % of distressed mortgage holders.
While the rest of us are paying through the nose for our mortgage with no help Aib are trying to entice people who owe them just to talk and probably won’t have to pay very little Owe Thousand to the bank and they come after you if you cannot pay but owe three hundred thousand. they will put out the red carpet to greet you
Alan , there’s no red carpet for mortgage holders in distress , they keep that one for people in debt to the tune of millions .
Thomas with respect we could be here posting for a week I have my views on this I know there are people out there who are doing their best not including them but there are lots more who are just sitting back .
Agree with the one about posting for a week , but there is also a lot more whom are trying their best than the ones than are not ..
Maybe this scheme will work , who knows ..;)
The reason this was set up was because some people actually stood up to the bank and told them where to go, don’t think for one minute this was set up for the benefit of the customer, this is a basket case of a bank with very poor record keeping and to date has cost the taxpayer over 20 billion which will be never be repaid , AIB in the 80s got into trouble buying an insurance company which at the time meant they had to be bailed out and that money was never paid back so I don’t see much hope for this money been returned, according to the report 22 people got a write down but if you read between the lines it is all voluntary surrender, this look likes to me that this group of 22 bought houses at the top of the market and will never have the money to repay, so the bank knowing they will never get paid allowed a voluntary surrender instead of paying legal fees, not exactly ground breaking stuff, still it is only 3 months old so let’s see if Mr hall comes up with something of benefit to the customers of AIB or is this a very sly way of the bank getting what they want by using a 3rd party and then when the shit hits the fan saying it’s nothing to do with us, only time will tell
Just a glorified debt collection agency
This is only happening with aib because its over 95% controlled and owned by the state
Its taxpayers money
This would never happen with BOI or Ulster bank
A red thumb already maybe another satisfied customer who won’t have to pay.
AIB are great at doing a restructuring deal
Line right up on your go on the spinning wheel
Bailed them all out with plenty of dosh
One big problem , they kept the stash
Conquer and divide is alive and well
The ordinary punter can go to hell
What’s going down ,,lol Mr Hall dids people hand over their homes and pay €900 a month for next 6 years ..lol youse did great deal ,,but for who ..lol Nomore chasing ambulances ..lol chasing people in debt ..lol more money in that ..lol
Tell Ogochukwu more about this please ..lol youse were on before ..we need to hear ..how much you making ..lol what are the margins in profits from €150,000 do you get 20% nice mon for some..lol
Thomas not a collection agency its a get out jail agency.
Alan let’s put things into prospective here, worst case scenario all distressed mortgages in the state would come to around 10 billion, that’s the same total as the top 6 developers in Nama, who have kept everything plus got a salsify of 4 k per week walk around change, so why should Mary and Johnny give 2 FCUKs about AIb or any other bank who no matter what they do, no matter how much they blow and piss away can never fail, and when the do FCUK up get retirement packages in the millions and tax free hand shakes, remember the CEO saying I would sooner die than take state money, what happened??? Well that tosser is still alive and claiming 500k per year while studying history in trinity, o and yes they took over 20 billion, so let’s not start shouting at each other that’s what they want to distract from what they done, remember Duffy with the crap line of up to 30% strategic defaulters! the only defaulters in the room that day was him! that was crap to turn people against each other end of story,
Alan , there is over 100,000 people in work that are in mortgage arrears ,that is staggering ..
Danny I respect your views concerning banks builders developers I and many more were hard pressed paying our mortgage down through the years I had tough times many years ago when our overtime hours were wiped out had to manage with no help from no one we got through it when every door was shut against us. What has happened now people went in over their heads with no thought given on the if word builders built nice houses with posh names nice entrances then on comes the victims with very little end up with a new house car and maybe two holidays with no planning for times changing
Alan I know of a tradesman had his mortgage, business loan and truck lease with AIB, the truck cost him 54 k to be paid over 5 years, after paying over 34 k off the balance he fell behind with payments, he was behind €1500 when they sent people to reposes, he argued with them that he had payment protection with them to cover him for 12 months of payments, which they denied, they took his truck and sold it for 9 k even though it was worth over 25 k, this put this man out of work completely” he then fell behind with the mortgage and when asked why he could not pay he explained to the manager about his truck been taken back the manager did not want to know, that was 2010, since then that man has struggled to pay his way and one week before christmass 2013 AIB sent him a cheque for €500, with a letter saying here is a refund for the payment protection on the truck that we told you you never had, when he phoned up to see about this he was told by some condescending old cow that the bank were going trough a hard time back then, that AIB for you a bunch of lying thugs with no morals
Can your mate not take them to court?by refunding the premium would they have admitted breaking the terms and being partly at least ..responsible for his financial loss?
Yea he has been to 3 or 4 solicitors who all want money up front, all of them said to write to the ombudsman, he thinks he now has a good solicitor on board so hopefully things will work out
danny I had something similar happen to me only with bank of Ireland, in 2008 I took out a small 5k business loan, they also talked me into having ppi , in 2010 I had a health problem and could not work, so I applied for the ppi to be paid. I was then told that I was not covered as I didn’t have a v.a.t certificate of payment, it was explained to the insurance company (a company who I have since found out is partly or wholly owned by b.o.i.) that as I was earning less than 20k per year turnover from the business I didn’t need to have a vat registration , the bank actually backed me up on my claim, but the insurance company declined , they then returned my ‘premiums’ to the bank (650 euro) and cancelled the policy. the bank’s business loans dept in dublin then called me in for default on my loan payments, I told them I had been waiting for the insurance to be sorted, they then denied that there was ever a policy in place. this led to them closing all my accounts and demanding repayment of loans and overdraft facility. I was contacted by 3 firms of solicitors each looking for ‘settlement ‘ I told them what had gone on and that ii was no longer in apposition to pay anything, we went to mab’s and they settled for 1.50 (1 euro and 50 cent) per month each , i’ll be long dead before I ever pay off even the legal fees, but its all there getting from me. if they had acted in an honest way in the beginning most of the loan money would now be paid back, but they wanted it both ways, not to pay out the insurance and to get me to pay back what was owing, banks and insurance are nothing but legalised robbers.
Did you have any dealings with the ombudsman or is that a closed shop as well
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