POLICE are concerned people still have not got the message about the dangers of using a mobile phone while driving.

Wiltshire officers are repeating warnings to drivers, as they believe some have become complacent a year after stricter rules were brought in.

"When we drove around it was difficult to find people using a mobile last March," said Insp Nick Elton, of Wiltshire Police's road policing unit.

"But now you see people on the phone all the time."

Since February 27, 2007, those caught using a hand-held phone face an automatic £60 fine and three points on their licence.

Insp Elton said: "Quite simply, using hand-held mobile phones and driving are two activities that cannot be performed safely at the same time. Driving today requires all of your attention all of the time, not all of your attention some of the time."

Following a crackdown in March last year, 151 people were issued with roadside tickets by road policing officers in one month.

However, police say a year on people are not as concerned about being caught as they were when the laws were introduced.

And the number of those being issued tickets is increasing.

Insp Elton added: "It is nonsense for people to claim that they can control their vehicles safely while using a hand-held mobile phone."

The total ban on motorists using hand-held mobile phones while driving was first launched in December 2003.

Studies by the Transport Research Laboratory, in Berkshire, show that a driver's reactions when using a hand-held mobile phone are 50 per cent slower than normal.

Tests carried out on drivers travelling at 70mph found that if they were using a hand-held phone it reduced their reaction time by half a second, which amounts to 46ft travelling distance.