Mobile ban debated in Dáil

Proposed legislation to ban the use of mobile phones by drivers was debated in the Dáil last night.

The Bill put forward by Fine Gael allows emergency staff use mobiles in a bid to circumvent the problems that resulted in the withdrawal of Government legislation in this area four years ago.

Olivia Mitchell, Fine Gael's transport spokeswoman, said banning the use of mobile phones by drivers was vital in the context of growing mobile and car ownership and rising road deaths. Ninety people have been killed on the roads this year to date.

Deputy Mitchell said the proposed bill was "uncomplicated and deliberately sets out to do one simple thing; to ban the use of holding a mobile phone while driving a car." A ban on motorists using a mobile phone was one of the 69 penalty point offences introduced by the then Minister for Transport Séamus Brennan in 2002. However, it is not among the 31 new offences that will be introduced next week.

A lack of primary legislation led to gardaí being unable to enforce the penalty requiring the then minister of state at the Department of Environment to bring forward legislation.

However this was withdrawn when it was found the blanket ban would have included emergency services. A spokesman for the Department of Transport said Minister Martin Cullen was supportive of what Deputy Mitchell was doing and that the Minister would include legislation to ban the use of mobile phones in the forthcoming Road Traffic Act.

Fine Gael's Road Traffic (Mobile Telephony) Bill 2006 includes exemptions for gardai, fire brigade and ambulance services and also permits drivers to call the emergency services "in a genuine emergency".

Deputy Mitchell admitted the legislation does not seek to ban hands free kits. "Such use, if made an offence would be impossible to detect and I also believe it would be impossible to engender any level of popular support."

Research by the University of Sydney has found drivers who used a mobile phone while driving were four-times more likely to crash.

A study of motorists in a one -hour period in Navan Co Meath last year found that 3.6 per cent of motorists used hand-held mobile phones while driving. The author of this study, Dr Declan Bedford, said this rate of mobile phone use 'by motorists was high in comparison with other countries.

Motorists driving while using a mobile phone can be charged with dangerous driving, with five penalty points and a €1,500 fine.