UK considering hands-free phone ban in cars

Tough new laws banning in-car use of mobile phones, including hands-free devices, are being considered in the UK to cut road deaths.

According to MPs proposing the ban, evidence suggests that phone use while driving affects a driver's ability to the same extent as drink driving.

In 2017, there were 773 killed on British roads, with 43 deaths and 135 serious injuries linked to drivers using their mobile phones.

Worse still, since 2011, the number of deaths related to distracted drivers using their phone has risen steadily.

As well as a total in-car phone ban, politicians are also demanding greater enforcement and more severe penalties -- including criminal charges -- as well as calling for the country's police forces to introduce new technology to detect phone use in cars, such that are now being rolled out in Australia.

Currently, if they get caught driving while on a hand-held phone in the UK, drivers receive six demerit points and a £200 ($A355) fine.

Both the fine and points are under review and potential public consultation, with the intention of criminalising those caught using hand-held or hands-free devices.

The chair of the committee, Lilian Greenwood MP, said in the future she wanted phone use in cars to become: "...as socially acceptable as drink-driving."

Calling for greater education of the risks and consequences of phone use behind the wheel, Greenwood added: "Offenders also need to know there is a credible risk of being caught, and that there are serious consequences for being caught.

"There is also a misleading impression that hands-free use is safe. The reality is that any use of a phone distracts from a driver’s ability to pay full attention, and the government should consider extending the ban to reflect this."

British driving groups have largely backed the review of current laws, calling for more enforcement of the current rules.

Higher fines for motorists using phones were recently announced by the South Australian government, which now imposes the loss of three demerit points and a $534 fine.