Family starts anti-mobile drive

Paul Newman's sister was killed by a driver using a mobile phone

A man whose sister died when she was run over by a driver using a mobile phone has begun a campaign to stop people using phones while driving.

Paul Newman's sister Ellen was killed in Jersey in January. The driver was fined £300 and banned for a year.

Mr Newman said he had launched the Hands Off campaign alongside Jersey Telecom and a local newspaper to raise people's awareness of the dangers.

"I want to get the message across of what it can do to a family," he said.

He added: "It destroys people's lives by just taking that supposedly important phone call."

The 'Hands Off' campaign is supported by Jersey Telecom

Mobile phones outnumber people on the island, with 87,000 people owning 100,000 mobile phones.

Driving while using a mobile phone was made illegal in Jersey in 1998 - five years earlier than in the UK. Hands-free kits were also outlawed but are allowed in the UK.

Drivers in Jersey face a maximum £500 penalty if they are prosecuted.

In Jersey, 271 people have been prosecuted for driving while using a mobile phone so far this year, compared to 212 people for the whole of 2005.

Tim Ringsdore, ofm Jersey Telecom, said: "I go to work everyday and I'm looking in the cars to see how many people are using the handsets and I'm not noticing that many people are so I think it's definitely working."