Stricter penalties for using hand-held mobile phones while at the wheel have come into effect.
The fixed-penalty fine for offenders is doubling from £30 to £60 and, for the first time, those caught using hand-held mobiles will get three penalty points on their licence.
Courts will have the powers to give a maximum fine of £1,000 or £2,500 in the case of a driver of a bus, coach or goods vehicle. Offenders could even be disqualified from driving.
The AA said the new measures "paled into significance" compared with the threat of jail for causing a fatal crash while using a mobile. It added that too few motorists had made the connection between using a mobile and prison terms handed down by courts for causing death by dangerous driving.
Meredydd Hughes, Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) roads policing spokesman, said: "It's important to remember that 77,000 people have already been fined for driving whilst using their mobile phones, a figure that highlights this offence is policed robustly. Driving whilst using a mobile phone is not acceptable and these penalties will hopefully deter those who think they are above the law."
The AA said employers needed to impose stricter rules and safer communications for employees on the road, not only to protect against the stricter measures taking effect today but to avoid facing charges themselves.
Surveys have found lorry and van drivers to be twice as likely to break the mobile phone law as car drivers.
Meanwhile, drivers face random breath-tests under Government proposals to curb drink-driving. A review of road safety strategy published by the Department for Transport (DfT) said it would start consulting on the move this year.
While keeping the blood-alcohol limit under review, the DfT feels that the most effective way of tackling drink-driving is through tougher enforcement.
It has already indicated to police that criminal motoring offences should be "treated as such" and welcomed an increase in breath-tests during Christmas 2006. That rise was matched by a fall in drink-related accidents, according to the Government's road safety strategy review.
