Never use a mobile phone of any kind when driving, hands-free or hand-held. Don’t take or make calls. It’s the distraction of the call that’s the highest risk.

Put your phone:

• on message service
• on silent ring
• out of reach if it is hand-held (for example, in a glove compartment)
  If you are on a long journey, stop for messages when you stop for breaks. If you really need to work or keep in constant contact with someone on a long journey, then take the train instead. This is the more environmentally-friendly option.

Never use a pager or text. This is pure insanity and lethal.

Passengers should shut up too

Talking on a phone is more dangerous than talking to passengers. But it is important to ask passengers to be quiet too. You cannot concentrate fully on your driving if you are chatting with a passenger, or, even worse, having a row with a passenger. It is not rude to ask passengers, in advance, to not disturb your driving. Avoid driving children on long journeys, during which they will inevitably get restless and noisy if they don’t fall asleep. If you are driving with children and they start disturbing you, stop somewhere safe as soon as possible and calm them down. They are probably hungry or need to stretch their legs. But it’s better all round for your family to take public transport and be environmentally friendly as well as safer. If you are a young driver, avoid driving groups of drunk or drugged young passengers, who can be incredibly distracting or at worst encourage you to drive faster. Arrange for you all to take a taxi instead.

Don’t fiddle with the technology

Do not look at or fiddle with satellite navigation kits. There have even been cases of drivers attempting to watch TV at the same time as driving. Your eyes need to be constantly on the road or your mirrors. The only time your eyes should look inside your vehicle is if you need to glance at a safety-critical control such as your speedometer. If you find your eyes wander to sat nav equipment, and you can’t stop this happening, get it disconnected. Better to take a wrong turning than kill a child because you were looking at a virtual map rather than the road. Also, beware of blindly following instructions from a sat nav. When it tells you to ‘turn left’ it might not be safe to do so at that moment - a child might be crossing the road. Sat nav systems also frequently have incorrect routings programmed into them, for example sending you along a ‘road’ that’s actually now a dead end lane only used by pedestrians with a bollard at the end and no turning space. It’s more important to look at road signs than listen to any sat nav.

Turn it down

Listening to quiet, calm music might help you drive more safely. Listening to loud, fast rock music might make you drive faster and take more risks. Think about your music choice and the way it makes you feel. Tone it down or turn it off altogether.

In memory of Rebekka Hudd, 11, killed by a driver using a mobile phone at the wheel.Rebekka was with her brother on his paper-round, waiting for him to deliver a paper, when a car mounted the pavement where she was standing and hit her. She was thrown 25 metres. Rebekka was taken to hospital but her family was told there was no hope. Her life support machine had to be switched off.The driver had been dialling out on his mobile when he mounted the pavement.