Hundreds still texting while behind wheel
Drivers are still failing to heed warnings about the dangers of using mobile phones behind the wheel.
Lincolnshire road safety experts and police are backing a national campaign to remind motorists how easy it is to be distracted when texting or talking while driving.
In today’s Spalding Guardian, Allan Portor, the father of Tamzin and Jessica Portor – who were killed in a tragic road accident just after Christmas, writes about how he is “shocked” by the number of drivers who are not following road safety advice.
His letter, on page six, reads: “If they had gone through what we have gone through, then they may drive more carefully and not use mobile phones and pay more attention to the road ahead.”
He said since his girls Jessica (7) and Tamzin (10), of Sutton Bridge died, his world had been turned upside down, adding: “Every time my fiancee and I get in a car it is with dread and fear.
“Sooner or later there will be another fatal accident and some other family will have the grief and despair that we are having to come to terms with every day.”
Lincolnshire Road Policing Unit this week revealed the latest figures for drivers reported for using a mobile phone behind the wheel.
In the last three months of 2012, this totalled 315 – more than 100 a month.
Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership says it is now backing a campaign by ITV’s Daybreak programme urging viewers to pledge to make their cars a Phone Free Zone.
John Siddle, of the partnership, said: “Even though the law was passed some years ago, it seems that some people are still comfortable using their phones whilst driving.
“Most people think it is the ‘physical’ distraction that is the danger – steering while holding a mobile for example – but it is the cognitive distraction that whilst holding that conversation they are looking out of the windscreen but not seeing that is a massive concern.”
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Weather for Spalding
Sunday 19 May 2013
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