A MOTHER said she was “still in shock” after only the quick-thinking actions of her partner avoided a head-on smash on a major Bradford road.

Rosie Caink, 20, of Cottingley, was being driven along Thornton Road by partner Matt Brown just after 6pm on Tuesday when they were forced to take evasive action after a car veered onto the wrong side of the road.

Miss Caink said the cause of the near-miss was the driver of the oncoming car, an Audi A5, looking down at his mobile phone rather than keeping his eyes on the road.

In dashcam footage of the incident the Audi can be seen crossing the centre line of the road, heading straight into oncoming traffic. Mr Brown manages to swerve out of the way at the last moment to avoid a collision, before quickly returning to the right side of the road.

Of his actions, she said: “He was 100 per cent looking at his phone, he had his head down and he didn’t look at the road once. He was completely oblivious about heading into oncoming traffic and made no attempt to swerve whatsoever.

“If Matt hadn’t swerved when he did, the outcome could have been extremely different. Thank god our one-year old daughter wasn’t in the car with us as that just doesn’t even bear thinking about. It shows how much looking at your phone takes your concentration away. A head-on collision could have had terrible consequences. I’m still in shock to be honest.”

In March, the penalty for being caught using a mobile phone while driving doubled to six penalty points and a £200 fine.

Miss Caink said: “I cannot believe people are still using their phones while driving when the new laws have been put in place to deter them. It’s not just the points or a fine, it’s someone’s life, someone’s family.”

She described the driver as an Asian man in his late 20s, who was alone in the car.

Sergeant Cameron Buchan, who is leading Operation Steerside, a district-wide road safety crackdown by West Yorkshire Police, said of the incident: “If this is an example of someone using their mobile phone while driving, it shows exactly why it is against the law. The situation is a stereotype of exactly why it is illegal and so dangerous.”

A spokesman for Brake, the road safety charity, said: “At Brake, we work with families who have had their lives torn apart because someone thought they could multi-task behind the wheel. This terrifying footage could so easily have had a similar ending.

“With mobile technology becoming ever more available and advanced, driver distraction is a growing danger.

"That’s why Brake is calling for traffic policing to be made a national priority – officers need more resources to remove dangerous drivers from our roads. We are also calling for a ban on hands-free kits, which research shows are just as risky as hand-held phones.”

More than 9,000 drivers have now been stopped since Steerside began in February last year. Of the 9,028 recorded offences, 772 have been for mobile phone use.

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