NEARLY 85,000 Scottish drivers have points on their licences for using their mobile phone at the wheel despite high-profile police campaigns aimed at ending the potentially-fatal practice.
Almost one in 10 of those drivers - who are predominantly male - has six points or more for driving while distracted offences, suggesting that current legal deterrents are not working.
Meanwhile, six in 10 Scottish schoolchildren report being driven by a driver talking on a phone and three in four have spotted drivers on mobile phones outside their school or home - implying the majority of children are being endangered for the sake of a call or text.
The statistics were published today as part of a new road safety campaign by the charity Brake - with partners Specsavers and Romex - which is appealing to drivers to turn off their phones or put them in the boot.
The campaign, launched a decade after the use of hand-held mobiles in vehicles was banned, also urges all phone users to refuse to speak to or contact people while driving.
Fraser Simpson, a spokesman for Brake, said: "We're living in an age when being constantly connected is the norm; more and more of us have smartphones and find it hard to switch off, even for a minute. While there are enormous benefits to this new technology, it's also posing dangerous temptations to drivers to divert their concentration away from the critical task at hand, often putting our most vulnerable road users in danger.
"We're calling on Scotland's drivers to tune into road safety: turn off your phone or put it in the boot, and never try to multi-task at the wheel. We're also appealing to everyone to refuse to chat to someone on the phone who's driving, to help them arrive safely."
Studies in the US have found that distraction is a factor in 16% of fatal crashes. Other studies in the UK have found that up to one in five crashes could be caused by driver distraction, which reduces the perception of hazards and increases reaction times in a similar way to drink-driving. Brake said drivers who think they can multi-task are fooling themselves, with research showing 98% are unable to divide their time without it affecting performance.
Transport Minister Keith Brown said the campaign addressed the fact that any activity which reduced a driver's concentration away from the road was potentially dangerous.
"While the number of road casualties in Scotland are at their lowest ever level, there is still simply no room for complacency," he said.
Dr Terry Lansdown, a driver distraction expert from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, said: "Robust international data shows that distraction is a major contributor in traffic incidents. Phone use has been consistently shown to be one of the most distracting things the driver can attempt and more lives are being ruined every year as a result of the temptation to do additional things while driving."
Drivers caught using a hand-held phone at the wheel to call or text face a fixed penalty notice of £100 and three points. In 2012, more than 10,000 drivers caught using their phone at the wheel took a What's Driving Us course, instead of opting for points. Drivers who cause a crash and kill someone while using a phone could face up to 14 years in prison.
Inspector Andy Amour, of Police Scotland's Trunk Road Patrol Group, said: "Driving requires your full attention. It is absolutely essential that people concentrate on their driving rather than talking on their mobile phone."
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