Driving Dangers: Mobile phone problem areas revealed 

The worst locations in England for drivers using their mobile phones behind the wheel have been revealed. 

Research carried out by Quotezone found that motorists in the City of London were the worst offenders, thanks to their much smaller population size compared to other areas, with 2095 fines per 100,000 people in 2024. 

Drivers in Durham (222), Cumbria (196), Suffolk (176) and Merseyside (171) were some of the other hotspots where Brits were fined for using their phones. 

Bedfordshire drivers were the most well-behaved when it comes to staying off their phones, with just 23 offences for every 100,000 people. 

In terms of regions, the North West topped the list (118), followed closely by the North East (109).

Meanwhile, Yorkshire had the lowest number of fines relative to the population last year (52). 

References:
*https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/changes-in-the-law-on-driving-while-using-a-mobile-phone/
**https://www.gov.uk/using-mobile-phones-when-driving-the-law#:~:text=You%20can%20get%206%20penalty,in%20the%20last%202%20years.
***https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/seatbelt-and-mobile-phone-use-surveys-2023/mobile-phone-use-by-drivers-england-2023

Methodology
The stats for fixed penalty fines for 2023 and 2024 were obtained through Freedom of Information requests from all 39 police forces in England.
Nottinghamshire Police did not provide a response within the time limit, while Lancashire Police declined to disclose the information, stating the data would be made available to the public at a later date.
To standardise the results across police forces and regions, the number of fines were weighted per 100,000 people.
The population in each area was determined using data from the Office of National Statistics https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/estimatesofthepopulationforenglandandwales