Following a public consultation, ministers have implemented two specified exemptions to safety legislation that will enable ambulance, police, coastguard and fire service drivers to use Airwave and ESN devices legally

New laws signed off by ministers mean that, from this week, ambulance, police and fire-service drivers will be able to legally use digital devices to talk to colleagues while on the road.

Laws prohibiting motorists from using mobile phones and other handheld devices while driving were first introduced 21 years ago. That legislation exempted the use of two-way radios by emergency services drivers.

Tweaks made to this legislative framework in recent years have made it illegal to use while driving any device that “is capable of transmitting and receiving data, whether or not those capabilities are enabled”. These updates have created some confusion over the legality – or otherwise – of the use of emergency services devices connecting to the current Airwave communications infrastructure, as well as to its incoming successor, the 4G-and 5G-powered Emergency Services Network.

During summer 2023, the Department for Transport ran a small-scale consultation. As part of this process, a limited number of emergency services organisations were directly invited to submit their views on two new proposed exemptions which would expressly allow police, fire, ambulance and coastguard drivers to use Airwave- and ESN-connected devices.

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Of the 22 responses received during the consultation all but one supported these proposals, according to an outcome report newly published on GOV.UK.

Given this overwhelming majority of backing to update the laws, the government is pressing on with introducing the exemptions. The necessary amendments are included in a piece of legislation laid in parliament yesterday: the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment) Regulations 2024.

DfT clarified that the new allowances for emergency-services drivers “will only apply to use in press-to-talk mode, [and] any other use of the devices in hand-held mode while driving would contravene the prohibition”.

“Emergency services drivers must be able to communicate while driving,” the department added in the consultation outcome document. “The government takes seriously any representations about safety concerns but, in this case, it is satisfied that the change will not have adverse effects on safety. Officials sought a demonstration of both the Airwave Tetra and the ESN devices to determine the level of physical manipulation and concentration. Both the Airwave Tetra and ESN devices have a distinct physical ‘press-to-talk’ button and require no additional operating procedures compared to existing two-way radios.”

Of the 22 respondents to the feedback process, the only dissenting voice to the proposed updates was the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which “expressed concerns about the proposals on the grounds of risk and distraction… [and] took the view that hand-held use should not be necessary because police vehicles should have the technology to facilitate hands-free communication”.