The DGT informs: Even if you touch your mobile while driving you can be fined and remove 6 points from your license

Source: DiarioMotor

The reform of the Traffic Law will punish the use of mobile phones with 6 points

The General Directorate of Traffic is nearing the culmination of an important reform that, as we have seen these days, affects urban speed limits, personal mobility vehicles such as electric scooters and also the driver’s license for points. And one of the most striking reforms has been, without a doubt, the one that will raise to 6 the withdrawal of points from the card for using the mobile phone. Now, the DGT warns you, and it may fine you and withdraw 6 points from your card even if you are not using your mobile phone.

The DGT tries to cover the legal loopholes and establishes clear rules.

Until now, both article 18 of the General Traffic Regulations , as well as article 76 and annex II – referring to offenses that entail loss of points – of the revised text of the Traffic Law , they established the use of the mobile phone as an offense, and its corresponding penalties, with expressions such as “use by the driver with the vehicle in motion” and “driving using” and “manually using mobile phone devices.”

Currently, the law recognizes the use of mobile phones as punishable, which opens the door to interpretations and possible remedies to flourish. Obviously, these expressions can be interpreted by the driver, by the officer who is a witness to the offense, or by the automatic system that records a visual evidence . On the other hand, the assessment of the use of the device could also open the door to legal recourse.

The DGT has established that holding the mobile phone with the hand is punishable.

Let us remember that this reform has not yet been made effective , nor has it been approved. To become effective, the draft bill has yet to be approved, which must pass the relevant procedures in the Congress of Deputies. However, the Council of Ministers last Tuesday was quite clear in this regard and we understand that with the reform envisaged by the DGT not only will the penalty for using a mobile phone be raised from 3 to 6 points, but that the mere fact of holding it with the hand will already be punishable.

The new rule will establish that “driving while holding mobile phone devices while driving involves the deduction of 6 points from the license.”

The reform foreseen by the DGT will no longer only sanction the “use of the mobile phone” but also “hold it with the hand while driving” Let’s think about the importance of this measure. For a sanction to be successful, the agent’s interpretation will no longer be necessary, it will be enough for him to testify that the driver was carrying a mobile phone in his hand. On the other hand, it will also be very useful for the sanctions issued by automated means , such as cameras that detect drivers using their mobile phone and without a seat belt, to prosper. Now it will be enough with a photographic evidence of the driver carrying a mobile phone to enforce the sanction.