Last week’s police campaign targeting motorists using mobile phones has been hailed as a success by Devon and Cornwall Police. 

A number of drivers were stopped for using hand-held phones and other traffic offences and a further encouraging aspect was the number of people interacting on social media throughout the week, said officers.

The aim of the campaign was to highlight the dangers of using a hand-held mobile device while driving, which some studies suggest is as dangerous as drink driving. 

The hope is to send a clear message to motorists that using a hand-held device while driving is just as socially unacceptable.

Unmarked police vehicles patrolled the two counties. In total 48 drivers were stopped for using a mobile phone while driving. Numerous other traffic offences were dealt with including 21 motorists with no insurance and 84 stopped for excess speed – 17 of which were reported to court for speeding above 95mph.  Nine vehicles were found to have no valid MOT and seven vehicles had no vehicle excise licence (car tax) and nine vehicles were seized.

Roads policing inspector, Pete Thomas said: ’We hope this campaign has encouraged some people to never again use their hand held phone while driving.’

The police are particularly pleased with the response on social media. It is estimated that around 2.75 million people were potentially reached on Twitter and around 660,000 people on Facebook.  During the week the number of comments, shares, likes and retweets totalled 10,430.