Almost 8,000 drivers were caught using a mobile phone behind the wheel during a week-long crackdown by police.
The BBC says:
Officers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland issued more than 40 fines an hour during the campaign in November.
They also issued 68 court summonses, delivered hundreds of verbal warnings and identified 117 other distraction offences such as eating while driving.
Police chiefs said the results were “encouraging” and another week-long campaign was to begin from Monday.
It is illegal to use a handheld phone while driving, with those falling foul of the rules facing penalty points and a fine.
Calls to prevent drivers using phones intensified last year in the wake of several high-profile cases and research indicating that it was widespread.
In October, lorry driver Tomasz Kroker, who killed a mother and three children while distracted by his phone, was jailed for 10 years.
