In the Spring of 2020 it is expected that a new law will be brought in whereby if drivers so much as touch their mobile phone while driving they could be fined £200 and get 6 penalty points on their licence.
Currently drivers can only be prosecuted if they make a phone call or send a message by text, Whatsapp or email. There is accordingly a loophole at present whereby a driver can scroll for music or photos, browse the internet, draft emails or use the phone camera without breaking the law. This loophole was exploited in a recent English case whereby Ramsey Barreto successfully appealed his conviction for using his camera phone to film a crash when driving as he argued that the current law only applied to interactive communication.
If taken to the extreme this new law could also affect drivers who use their mobile phones as a sat nav, whereby if they so much as touch their phone to perhaps change their route they too could be subject to prosecution.
