Older but not wiser! Age of oldest driver caught using a mobile phone in Britain revealed

The age of Britain’s oldest driver caught using a phone behind the wheel in the past three years has been revealed.

Nearly 100,000 British motorists were given six penalty points and a minimum fine of £200 for illegally operating portable devices while driving between January 2022 and the end of October 2024, DVLA data shows.

‘CU80’ citations added to permits for ‘violation of requirements related to vehicle control, such as use of a mobile phone’ totaled 95,841 over the 34-month period, the government agency announced in response to a request for freedom of information.

Motorists in their 30s committed the highest percentage of offences, with 32,363 prosecutions for people aged 31 to 40, accounting for a third of fines.

More surprising are the 84 motorists in their eighties who were also caught driving with a device, and three driver’s license holders in their nineties.

As part of efforts to reduce the number of motorists using phones while behind the wheel, penalties were doubled from three points and fines of £100 from 1 March 2017.

And from March 2022, the government has introduced stricter ‘zero tolerance’ rules to almost completely ban touching a phone.

Authorities and police forces across the country are also using roadside cameras with artificial intelligence (AI) to identify drivers who are illegally talking on the phone and not wearing a seat belt while behind the wheel.

The oldest driver of all to receive a CU80 endorsement between 2022 and October 2024 was 98 years old, Select Car Leasing’s FOI request to the DVLA revealed.

The identity or location of the motorist cannot be revealed by the agency.

Although there is no maximum driving age in Britain, motorists must apply to renew their driving license once they reach 70, and renew every three years thereafter.

And while they must report any health conditions that may affect their ability behind the wheel, they do not have to retake a driving test to stay on the road.

Remarkably, the data also revealed 36 license citations for mobile phone use for drivers aged 14, 15 and 16 – before they were even old enough to attempt to pass their test.

News that drivers in their 30s are most likely to be caught using a device behind the wheel comes just days after British rapper Stormzy, 31, was given a nine-month ban after an undercover officer caught him with his phone behind the wheel of his £225,000 Rolls-Royce Wraith.

Drivers in their 20s accounted for a quarter of all citations, while a fifth were issued to drivers in their 40s.

Motorists caught committing such an offense will have their license enforced for four years from the date the driver’s license was first issued.

Mark Tongue, CEO and co-founder of the leasing company, said: ‘Age is not a barrier to getting a fine and points on your driving license for being distracted by a mobile phone and all motorists, no matter how experienced, should be aware of the dangers.

‘It’s eye-opening to see such an elderly driver pulled over by police after reaching for his phone, but perhaps not surprising given the way technology has crept into all aspects of our lives, no matter how old we are.

‘After all, age does not always equal wisdom.’

In March 2022, the laws surrounding mobile phone use behind the wheel became much stricter when the Department for Transport announced a ‘zero tolerance’ approach. It became illegal to use a portable cell phone while driving, under virtually any circumstances light up the screen, check notifications and even unlock the device.

Touching a phone is only allowed when calling emergency services or using tap-and-pay at tolls and drive-through restaurants.

In total, there were 39,515 license citations for both new and old motorists for CU80 prosecutions in 2023 – an increase of 16 percent from the 34,062 citations in 2022.

However, up to the end of October, there had only been 22,264 approvals in 2024, indicating that prosecutions are declining despite the introduction of new AI roadside camera equipment that can identify motorists driving on the phone.

National highways and police forces across England have extended an ongoing trial of the technology, which started in 2021 and will now run until March.

The ten police forces taking part in the rollout are Greater Manchester, Durham, Humberside, Staffordshire, West Mercia, Northamptonshire, Wiltshire, Norfolk, Thames Valley Police and Sussex.

The trial is intended to help police understand how AI technology could work on national highways and how it could shape a national rollout.

Cameras can be mounted on a trailer or vehicle and are placed higher than traditional speed or traffic cameras.

In the future, AI cameras would be attached to gantries on highways in the pilot regions.

The technology, developed by Acusensus, “provides automated recognition of people using cell phones while driving to enforce traffic safety laws intended to prevent distracted driving.”

They capture images of passing vehicles (it can track objects traveling up to 300 km/h), which are then processed by AI to detect if someone is using their smartphone while driving or if someone in the car is not wearing a seat belt.

Two photos are taken: one from a shallow angle, which captures a driver holding a phone to their ear and checking to see if a seatbelt is being worn, and a second deeper angle, which shows whether someone is texting in front of them ‘and.

The AI ​​images are then examined by a human to confirm that the software is correct and that a violation has indeed occurred.

If human inspection shows that a violation has been committed, the driver will be fined.

But if the image is incorrect and shows that no criminal offense has been committed, it will be immediately removed from the archives, according to Acusensus.

DVLA data provided to Select Car Leasing also revealed the worst offending locations where drivers had CU80 endorsements added to their driving license from January 1, 2022 to October 27, 2024.

Drivers in London received the most messages of support, ahead of drivers in Bradford and Leeds.