More and more motorists are flouting the law when it comes to mobile phones with some even updating their social networking pages as they drive.

Shocking revelations from Twitter have prompted the Kent and Medway Safety Camera Partnership to announce a crackdown starting this week.

The social networking service analysed its tweets posted over a one-week period and found comments such as "Tweeting whilst driving, watch out for PC plod."

Another posted an apology: "I can’t believe how bad my spelling was in my last tweet. A testiment (sic) to not tweeting whilst driving!"

At the same time a survey by the RAC found that the number of drivers who admitted using their mobile phone without a hands-free kit had more than trebled in a year to 28 per cent.

Katherine Barrett for the partnership said: "People could be killed or seriously injured because someone was using a mobile phone while at the wheel of a car."

Warning boards are going up across Maidstone telling drivers that the fixed yellow safety cameras and mobile camera vans will be used to enforce the mobile phone and seat-belt laws as well as speed limits.

Maidstone has eight fixed safety camera points and four safety camera van sites.

Mrs Barrett said: "Our own roadside surveys have shown that one in 10 motorists in Kent is still not wearing a seat belt, which is another cause for concern.

"The penalty for not wearing a seat belt is a £60 fine and for being caught using a mobile phone while driving it is a £60 fine and three penalty points, but of course the consequences of a crash can be much more devastating.

"In the last three years there have been at least 46 crashes on the county’s roads involving someone using a mobile phone while at the wheel. Of these there were four fatalities."

"Clearly, drivers do not think they will get caught, but that kind of attitude can lead to tragic and even fatal consequences. Using a mobile phone to make calls or text while driving is sheer madness."

It is still an offence to use a mobile phone, even if the vehicle is stationary in a lay-by, traffic jam, traffic lights or at the side of the road, if the engine is running.

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