NOK 7450 for mobile use - NRK Innlandet - Local news, TV and radio

Fines today rise from 5,000 kronor to 7,450 kronor – and three points – if you are caught using a mobile phone while driving.

– Yes, it started a colossal amount. 7,450 NOK represents a marked increase. I think it will attract attention and hopefully also get more people to comply with the rules. This is what UP Director Knut Smedsrud told NRK.

It is believed that a higher fine rate can have a preventive effect and reduce traffic accidents.

The UP chief says the illegal use of cell phones in cars is a persistently big problem.

Read also: I collected UP 60,000 in one hour

– Now that we know that you are driving 22 meters per second when you are driving at 80 kilometers per hour, it is needless to say that paying attention to the mobile phone is life-threatening. So this is the right priority, says the emergency police chief.

49 percent increase

This is the second time in just over a year that the fine rate for using a handheld mobile phone behind the wheel has risen.

On January 1, 2021, prices for fines increased from 1,700 kroner to 5,000 kroner and three points.

Now the fine rate has risen by 49 per cent to 7,450 crowns – and three points on a driver’s license.

If you get eight points in three years, you lose your driver’s license for six months.

This is the opinion of NAF and Trygg Trafikk

Trygg Trafikk and the Norwegian Automobile Association welcome the new high rates of fines.

– Although the fine rates were already high, it didn’t seem to help. Many people use their cell phones while driving, says Nils Soudal, Senior Communications Adviser at NAF.

He says cell phones are more distracting than people realize.

Reading or writing an SMS distracts you from driving for longer than people think. You may have gone too far without noticing what is actually happening.

Trig Traffic’s regional director Marianne M. Solbra says Landit says Trig Traffic supports an increase in the fines rate.

– We are in favor of increasing the fine rate because this is a positive for traffic safety. “We don’t want anyone to be caught driving with a mobile phone,” Solbra says.

Soudal stresses that more controls are needed for people to leave their mobile phones while driving.

– But when he is about seven and a half thousand crowns and three points, he begins to sting well.

To give priority to controls

UP chief Knut Smedsrud says police will continue to enforce traffic controls in the usual way.

We prioritize speed, intoxication, and other behavior controls where illegal mobile phone use is an area of control.

What does the application of such checks look like when there is doubt about whether the driver has carried and used the mobile phone while driving?

– Good. This is done when the police do surveillance in a safe and good manner, so it is often shown in court.

Mobile phone use while driving has been banned since the spring of 2000.

From 2006 to 2016, an average of 16,400 fines were issued for mobile phone use, while 18,491 and 20,480 such fines were issued in 2019 and 2020, respectively, according to the IRS.

Other fines are also increasing

It is not only mobile phone usage that is increasing. At the same time, from March 1, the fine rate for other traffic violations will also be increased.

Here are the new penalty rates: