Traffic accidents and mobile phone usage (FOI)

​​​​Request

A

Do the States of Jersey Police automatically check a driver's phone records when involved in an road traffic accident (RTC) in which someone has been injured or there has been damage to another person’s vehicle?

B

In the last five years, how many drivers involved in RTCs were found to have been using their phone and how many of these resulted in a prosecution?

C

​In the last five years, how many failure to stop RTCs where people have been injured, have there been and how many of these resulted in a prosecution?

Response

A

Police do not automatically check a driver’s phone records in these situations.

Mobile phones will be routinely seized and examined following any fatal Road Traffic Collision (RTC) following guidance issued in 2014 by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).

The seizing and examination of mobile phones at non-fatal RTC’s must be proportionate, necessary and reasonable given the circumstances, the accounts of witnesses or other evidence that may lead to a suspicion that the driver was using a mobile telephone at the time of the collision. 

A previous similar request was released in 2016 and is available at 

Road traffic collisions associated with mobile phone usage (FOI) ​

B and C

An analysis of both traffic offences officially recorded by the States of Jersey Police is recorded in the table below:  

*Please note that investigations into one mobile phone offence and three failure-to-stop road traffic collisions are ongoing.​