British Lord to Be Prosecuted Over "Texting While Driving" Fatal Accident

A British Lord is to be prosecuted for alleged dangerous driving  after it was claimed that he had sent a text message from his mobile phone, just moments before a fatal road accident. Lord Ahmed, a Labour peer in the House of Lords was involved in an accident on Christmas Day last year when it hit another motorist who was killed instantly.

Checks later carried out found that the same phone which was used to call the emergency services had also been used to send a text message just before the accident occurred.

A South Yorkshire Police spokesman said today: "On advice from the Special Crime Division of the Crown Prosecution Service, a 51-year-old Rotherham man will be issued with a summons to appear at Sheffield Magistrates Court on a date to be fixed in relation to driving his motor car dangerously on the southbound carriageway of the M1 between junctions 40 and 35."

Earlier this year, another British motorist, Kiera Coultas who was sending a text message while driving her car was sentenced to four years in prison after she was also involved in a fatal accident. "The serious part of your conduct was that you were sending a text on your mobile phone having just received one," said Judge Jeremy Burford when sentencing at the time.

The RAC Foundation has been calling for urgent investment in a high-profile education campaign, designed to raise awareness among those young people who have grown up with mobile phones, that texting and driving puts themselves, their friends, and other road users at unacceptable risk.

On the web: The Times

Posted to the site on 18th November 2008