Mobile phone signals could be BLOCKED while drivers are at the wheel to stop senseless road deaths

MOBILE phones could soon have their signal automatically blocked while cars are being driven in a fresh bid to stop motorists being distracted at the wheel.

Ministers are to meet car manufacturers and mobile companies to discuss how new technology can be used to make it impossible to make calls or check texts and emails while driving.

Almost one in three drivers admit to having used their phone at the wheel in the past year,

reports , with campaigners trying to make the practice as socially unacceptable as drink-driving.

Earlier this year transport secretary Chris Grayling announced tougher punishments for those caught using their phones behind the wheel.

Some of the new penalties included six points automatically being slapped on a driver's licence and a hike in the fine from £100 to £200.

New drivers who are caught using a mobile phone at the wheel will also face an automatic disqualification in an effort to curb dangerous driving.

In extreme cases where drivers kill while using their mobile phones they will now face LIFE behind bars.

The plans have been slammed by former lord chief justice Lord Woolf who urged ministers not to "create more offences" or "rely on imprisonment to improve the situation".

He said that the issue needed to be higher on cops’ agenda and warned that the prison population was nearly at crisis levels - partly due to “unwise legislation” continually increasing penalties.

Baroness Newlove, the victims’ commissioner, said in a debate this week: “It is time to make using a mobile phone while driving just as unacceptable as not wearing a seat belt or drink-driving. We need better education and hard-hitting messages to ensure the next generation know what could happen.”

Last week The Sun revealed a Metropolitan Police officer is under investigation after being caught using her phone illegally while at the wheel of a patrol car.

Last month another driver was spotted using THREE phones while driving through a busy London street.

And ex-Manchester United player Gary Neville was blasted for using his phone while behind the wheel of his £100,000 BMW.

It is understood that a Think! road safety campaign will be launched in the new year focusing on the risks of checking mobile phones while driving, even for a few seconds.

An RAC survey this year found that 41 per cent of drivers were worried about other people using their mobile phone at the wheel, up from 34 per cent a year ago.

Yet one in five drivers thought it was safe to text or check social media while they are sitting in traffic, despite it being against the law.

Now smartphone manufacturers are under pressure to install “drive safe” modes on handsets, which block all calls, texts and alerts, in the same way as “airplane mode” is used during flights. Technology in new cars could be used to automatically shut down mobile phones during driving.

Last year 17,500 people were taken to court for using a phone while they were behind the wheel - half as many as appeared in docks across the country in 2010.

Ministers believe progress has been made in educating the public, but a hard core of drivers remain unwilling to give up their gadgets.

A Department for Transport spokesman told The Times: “We are determined to crack down on mobile phone use at the wheel, and our plans to double penalties for this serious crime should act as an incredibly strong deterrent.”

In October Polish lorry driver Tomasz Kroker was jailed for ten years for causing the deaths of a mum and three kids because he changed the music on his phone while at the wheel.

The court was shown horrific footage of the moment his HGV hit the stationary cars at speed.

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