Mobile phone and seat belt surveys were commissioned by the Department for Transport between 2002 and 2009. The previous survey in 2009 collected data on mobile phone use in England only and seat belt use in both England and Scotland. In 2014 the Department for Transport and Transport Scotland commissioned mobile phone and seat belt surveys to monitor levels of mobile phone use by drivers and the use of seat belts by vehicle occupants across England and Scotland. The mobile phone survey was carried out across 60 sites in England within four different areas (South East, Manchester, Newcastle/Durham and Norfolk) and 30 sites in Scotland. Seat belt surveys were carried out at 40 sites in England within the same four areas as the mobile phone survey and at 20 sites in Scotland. For the mobile phone survey, a mixture of sites with stationary and free flowing traffic were used. Seat belt surveys were carried out at the stationary traffic sites in the mobile phone survey. For more detail on the number of sites used in the survey, see the methodology note. Roadside observation methods were used to collect the data with teams of staff visiting each site. For the mobile phone survey, observations were made of drivers of cars, vans, taxis, lorries, buses, minibuses and coaches. For the seat belt survey, observations were made of all occupants of cars, vans, taxis, private hire vehicles and lorries with observations of the driver only for buses, minibuses and coaches. At moving sites, observations were made of the gender and mobile phone use of the driver, but due to the speed of the passing vehicles it was not possible to assess the age of drivers. Details of all the variables collected at the stationary and moving sites can be found in the methodology note. Surveys took place in both morning (07:30 to 12:00) and afternoon sessions (13:30 to 18:00) with a half hour observation period every hour in each session. Sites were surveyed in half day sessions1 (either the morning or afternoon sessions). A number of sites were re-surveyed at the weekend so differences in mobile phone use or seat belt use between weekdays and weekends could be assessed. There are a number of limitations to the data collection method which are outlined in the methodology note. The results presented in this report have been weighted using the recorded traffic count and DfT traffic flow data to provide nationally representative estimates for England and Scotland across different road and area types. The weighting procedure also enabled combined estimates of driver mobile phone use and restraint use by vehicle occupants in England and Scotland to be obtained. No data has been collected in Wales, so the results are not necessarily representative of mobile phone use and restraint use in Great Britain, though the combined England and Scotland results presented in the report can be used as a proxy for Great Britain. More information on the weighting procedure can be found in the methodology note. As well as combined figures for England and Scotland, results are also presented separately for England and Scotland to determine any differences between the two countries. Transport Scotland have published a report on the Scotland mobile phone and seat belt survey results. A similar survey of seat belt wearing and mobile phone use in 2014 was commissioned by the Northern Ireland Department of the Environment. For context, comparisons have been made to the Northern Ireland figures in the report. However, it should be noted that the Northern Ireland survey was conducted at a different time of year to the England and Scotland surveys and does not follow the same methodology. Main findings are: In 2014, 1.6 per cent 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 per cent of drivers in England and Scotland were observed holding a phone in their hand compared with 0.5 per cent 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 per cent) than in moving traffic (1.6 per cent). * The proportion of car drivers observed using a hand-held mobile phone in England in 2014 (1.5 per cent) was relatively unchanged from the 1.4 per cent observed in 2009, when the previous survey was carried out. * 98.2 per cent 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 per cent of all front seat passengers and 90.6 per cent of all rear seat passengers were observed using seat belts or child restraints in England and Scotland. (Author/publisher)
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