Official Statistics

Seatbelt and mobile phone use surveys: 2014

Statistics on the proportion of drivers observed using mobile phones and wearing seat belts whilst driving in England and Scotland.

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Statistics on the proportion of drivers observed using a hand-held mobile phone and wearing seat belts whilst driving in England and Scotland from a roadside observation survey commissioned jointly between Transport Scotland and the Department for Transport.

Mobile phone survey

In 2014, 1.6% of all drivers in England and Scotland were observed using a hand-held mobile phone whilst driving.

Drivers were more likely to be observed with a mobile phone in their hand rather than holding it to their ear. In 2014, 1.1% of drivers in England and Scotland were observed holding a phone in their hand compared with 0.5% observed holding the phone to their ear.

A higher proportion of drivers in England and Scotland were observed using a hand-held mobile phone when stationary (2.3%) than in moving traffic (1.6%).

The proportion of car drivers observed using a hand-held mobile phone in England in 2014 (1.5%) was relatively unchanged from the 1.4% observed in 2009, when the previous survey was carried out.

Seat belt survey

98.2% of car drivers were observed using seat belts in England and Scotland.

Seat belt wearing rates were lower for other car occupants compared to car drivers. 96.7% of all front seat passengers and 90.6% of all rear seat passengers were observed using seat belts or child restraints in England and Scotland.

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Updates to this page

Published 25 February 2015

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