Using the mobile phone while driving is the cause of every 14th case of damage covered by the compul2/5/2018|Press releasesBESIP, the Czech association of insurance companies and the Czech Police, points out in its #nepozornostzabíjí campaign (lack of attention will kill you) the risks connected with the use of the mobile phone while driving. Paying not enough attention to driving is the most frequent cause of accidents (19.61%)* This is the third most common offence of Czech drivers (after speeding and failure to wear the seat belt) ** The campaign of the Czech association of insurance companies, starting in the middle of May, shall change this behaviour of Czech drivers. The traffic police of the Czech police directorate and BESIP of the Ministry of Transport of the CR are the project partners Not only has the number of traffic accidents and their consequences, resulting from lack of attention to driving, been growing over the last years (only in 2017 it was 65 people who died on Czech roads as a result of little attention paid to driving), but also the behaviour of drivers has been greatly transformed. "Every day we will see drivers holding their mobile phone while driving, having a phone call or writing a message, which means they are not concentrating on the traffic situation," comments colonel Tomáš Lerch, the director of the traffic police service of the Czech Police Presidium. But when considering safety, the driver is influenced in the same way as is he/she had 0.8 promile of alcohol in his/her blood if having a phone call while driving. "When writing a short text message, the driver will loose concentration within a few seconds. During that time and if going 50 km/h, he/she will have moved by 70 m, i.e. the distance of a football field. Whoever starts chatting while driving poses an extreme risk," adds Tomáš Neřold who is authorised with the management of a separate BESIP department of the Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic. "Modern insurance companies shall care about prevention. We believe it is important that they help their clients ensure that as little damage as possible is caused, because the best damage is the one which has never been caused," says the executive director of the Czech association of insurance companies Jan Matoušek. Every year, drivers on Czech roads cause up to 10 000 cases of damage covered by the compulsory insurance, the cause of which is their use of the mobile phone. The damage amounts to CZK 550 million. The communication campaign of the Czech association of insurance companies mostly addresses emotions. It shows children gravely affected by the possible injury or death of their parents. The behaviour of drivers does not mitigate the risk they are exposed to, but the risk their family and close friends are exposed to. "Even when an accident has already happened, one can better cope with damage cause to him/her. It is much more difficult to cope with hurting someone we care about. And this is exactly what we want to want to use,“ says Jan Matoušek about the campaign motives. The campaign is funded from the Damage Prevention Fund where insurance companies pay 3% of their compulsory insurance premiums received under the applicable act*** and will cost almost CZK 40 million. Radio spots and an online campaign support two TV spots.