To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Carter of Barnes on 23 March (WA 98), whether the practice of filming media interviews while the interviewee is driving a vehicle on a public road is illegal; and, if it is not, whether they will take steps to make it an offence. [HL2473]

It is an offence for a person to drive or cause or permit any other person to drive, “if he is in such a position that he cannot have proper control of the vehicle or have a full view of the road and traffic ahead”, under Regulation 104 of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986.

Should there be a crash or incident, depending upon the circumstances, there might be a prosecution on the more serious charges of driving without due care and attention or dangerous driving.

Advice for all road users on distractions is set down in Rules 148 to 150 of the Highway Code (available from www.direct.gov.uk). Specific advice for broadcasters has been provided in the booklet Presenting Road Safety—A Guide for the Media, published by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents with support from the department, which is available online at www.rospa.com/roadsafety/info/roadmedia.pdf. Under the heading “Bad Practice” it includes, “drivers having long conversations with a passenger, or speaking to camera, without watching the road ahead”.

There is no evidence of road casualties resulting from drivers speaking to camera, or that the law we have is insufficient.