Mobile phones and iPods 'to blame for road accidents'

Date: 21/9/2010

The use of mobile phones and iPods while driving is increasingly to blame for car accidents involving young motorists, campaigners have claimed.

Online pressure group Tune into Traffic is set to tell a road safety conference today (September 21st) the technologies are distracting youngsters and putting lives at risk.

Manpreet Darroch, founder of the organisation, said: "Road traffic collisions are the biggest cause of death among young people and, from our own observations and what young people are telling us, the distraction posed by these devices is huge."

More newly-qualified drivers are dying on the roads today than 15 years ago -fatalities among 16 to 19-year-olds have risen by 16 per cent since the mid-1990s.

And although the use of hand-held mobile phones was banned in 2003, Tune into Traffic claims many young motorists are breaking the law.

Julie Townsend, Deputy Chief Executive of Brake - a road safety charity - recently told the Guardian a disproportionately high number of car accidents involve young drivers.

Posted by Sarah Bailey