A third of insurance firms will not insure motorists who are caught using their mobile phones behind the wheel, major car insurer AA has said.
According to a survey conducted by the company, four in 13 insurers refuse to offer cover at all to mobile phone offenders or would choose to withdraw cover for violators.
“If an officer witnesses a clear lack of attention or dangerous behaviour while using a phone, the offence is likely to be increased to careless or dangerous driving,” said Michael Lloyd, the AA’s director of insurance. “Only two of the insurers researched would offer cover for someone with a dangerous driving offence to their name, typically increasing their premium by 58%.”
“So, if you were caught using your hand held device and inadvertently ran a red light with a resultant near miss, a dangerous driving offence would almost certainly be the result.”
The AA has launched a new campaign highlighting the danger of mobile phone use while driving. It marks the increase of the fixed mobile phone penalty, which takes effect today, from £100 to £200 and six points on an offender’s licence.
The insurer also released new research which found that motorists view texting while driving (71%) to be more than twice as risky as drink-driving (29%).
“A phone call or text message will distract any driver… People using a hand-held phone are more likely to crash with the significant risk of seriously injuring or killing someone,” Lloyd said.
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