We all know that it's an offence to drive while using a handheld mobile phone, with a £60 fine and three penalty points but IAM members across the UK have completed a 19 day survey to gauge where the hand held mobile phone drivers were most often seen and in what traffic conditions.

The survey revealed that drivers of family cars were found to be most guilty accounting for 21.5 per cent of the total vehicles surveyed, followed by light commercials or vans at 17.8 per cent.

16.5 per cent of drivers were willing to risk it in large and executive cars and 15.1 per cent of drivers of small cars were equally willing to ruin someone's life.

In other categories 12.6 per cent were drivers of 4WDs while 10.2 per cent of other commercial vehicle drivers were breaking the law.  Drivers of sports and high performance cars were found least likely to commit the offence with only 42 reports (6.3 per cent).

Bristol Advanced Motorists said; "Drivers cannot give their full attention to the complex task of vehicle control whilst dividing concentration between anticipating what is going to happen on the road ahead, planning how to deal with it and at the same time carry out a discussion about unrelated matters on a mobile phone - it is simply a recipe for disaster."

"The message must be clear: 'switch off before you drive off' and that applies just as much on the school run as it does to white van man."

"If government is serious about this potentially lethal cocktail the current namby-pamby fine of £60 should be replaced with a more realistic minimum of £1000 and 6 penalty points which would more appropriately reflect the gravity of this serious offence.  Giving a higher priority to your mobile phone when driving than to the safety of other road users should be met commensurately with a deterrent which protects us all." they said.

It doesn't matter how good you think you are when you're driving whilst on your phone, the blinding fact is - you're downright dangerous.  A driver's reaction is usually 50% slower and according to the Transportation Institute of Virginia you are 23 times more likely to be involved in an accident when texting and driving.  See video

"Reactions of drivers using mobiles were recorded as being 30% worse than that of a driver who was over the drink driving limit," according to the website nopenaltypoints.co.uk.

And don't forget; in addition to the fine if you are caught breaking this law, there are other financial implications especially if you end up in a collision.  It's entirely possible that your insurance company will not pay out for repairs to your car.  You could also lose your no-claims bonus and end up with an increase in your premiums.

Switch of before you drive off!

At least, if you can't live without it, give somebody else the chance to.  Pull over, put your handbrake on and select neutral before picking it up.