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The number of Car Loans customers using a mobile phone while driving has been cut by at least 40 per cent, new government figures reveal.
Research by the Department for Transport found that just one per cent of Car Finance consumers use a hand-held mobile phone when driving, down from 1.7 per cent last year.
However, van loans customers were found to use hand-held mobile phones more often, with 2.4 per cent of drivers of vehicles other than cars using phones regularly. Use of hands-free mobile phones also dropped, to an average of 0.5 per cent of credit customers using such devices.
Road safety minister Jim Fitzpatrick said: "Using any mobile phone when driving is distracting - it stops you giving the road your full attention and slows reaction times. Research shows it can make a crash four times more likely, so it is vital motorists do not use their phones while driving."
The government made it illegal to drive while using a mobile phone in 2003.
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