You may well have heard about the lorry driver who was jailed for 10 years last week for using his mobile phone (scrolling through his music selection) whilst driving and subsequently crashing into several stationary cars.

The pile-up seriously injured some and killed a mother and her three children as their car was concertinered under a stationary lorry to one third of its original size.

Perhaps something that makes this story even more chilling is the fact that the court heard that an hour before the pile-up the lorry driver had signed a declaration to his employer promising he would not use his phone at the wheel.  Footage showed that the driver hadn’t been concentrating on the road ahead for about 1km.

This horrific story highlights the need for us all to think before we use our phone whilst driving any vehicle.  Our cars and lorries are potentially lethal weapons which we need to be fully in control of at all times.

Remember the CEMEX UK mobile phone policy?

Here it is:

• If it isn’t urgent to make a call – don’t!
• If you need to make a call pull over into a safe place before doing so.
• If it is absolutely necessary to make or take a call whilst driving, you must be on hands free and keep the call short and always put driving conditions first.
• If you call a mobile phone ask the person if it is safe for them to take a call. If they tell you they are driving ask them to call back when they have parked up safely.
• Texting, emailing, scrolling through music or any other hands-on use of mobile devices is illegal.