A MOTORIST has been fined and issued a six-month driving ban after he was photographed using his phone behind the wheel on the M5 near Bristol.

In February, a passenger in another vehicle took several pictures of the driver holding his mobile phone in his right hand while steering with his left.

That was enough for him to appear in court in August and be slapped with a ‘totting up’ disqualification.

A spokesperson for Avon and Somerset's roads policing unit said: “This driver on the M5 near Bristol (02/2024) was putting other road users at risk due his attention being elsewhere!

“A journey cam report (was) submitted from passing passenger.

“Case referred to court due to totting up. RESULT (08/24): driver disqualified for six months and fined £649 in costs.”

What is a ‘journey cam’ report?

Road Safety GB, an organisation that represents road safety professionals, has encouraged police forces to adopt the term ‘journey cam’ rather than ‘dash cam’.

A spokesperson said: “Almost every UK police force now offers some kind of online reporting system to allow members of the public to submit footage of incidents on the road that they think are dangerous and require police action.

“However, data supplied by police forces shows a significant percentage of submissions are not actually from dashcams, but from other recording technologies such as body-cams, helmet-cams and mobile phones used by a range of road users including cyclists, horse riders and pedestrians.

“The report notes that while ‘dash cam’ is a well-known term, it might discourage some road users from submitting footage of incidents, by suggesting that the system is not for them.”

The organisation says this follows a research project carried out by academics from Keele University and Lincolnshire Police, funded by The Road Safety Trust.