Articles: Police Target Text-Driving

After 2009 saw the Isle of Wight and the south in general, hold some of the highest rates in the country of police arrest for driving whilst using a mobile phone, Isle of Wight constabularies have vowed to put in place more drastic measures to cut down on the number of people offending – particularly in light of the three recent car accidents, (two in January of this year on Forest Road, Newport, and one along the military road near Calbourne in March).

Chief Constable Ricky Mayres spoke out yesterday sighting general lack of public knowledge about the dangers of mobile phone use while driving, as the main cause of the problem.
“We aim to start in schools. Educate young teens in the risks. They are very apparent and seemingly very real, as we tragically were able to see already this year.” He claims too much emphasis is put on drink-driving as the only real safety issue with young drivers, but in fact, statistics show that there have been more local arrests for driving whilst using a mobile phone lately than ever before. “Everyone knows about the hands-free sets most phones come with nowadays, particularly the more modern ones that seem to be most common with the teens,” said Chief Mayres, speaking from Newport police station. “But it’s texting too that’s actually causing a lot of the damage. It only takes one second for someone to take their eyes off the road and regret it. It has to stop before anybody else is allowed to be hurt.”

The Hampshire Police, (who already arrange talks to local schools) have spoken out declaring that it should not just be the children being educated in the risks and safety issues of driving whilst using a mobile phone – and according to their spokesperson, are in talks to look into tackling the situation of adult ignorance surrounding the problem.