Phone use penalty 'could double'

THE PENALTY for using a mobile phone while driving could be doubled under proposals being examined by the Government as part of a safety drive, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe has called for offenders to be handed six points on their licence rather than the present three, meaning a ban from getting behind the wheel if caught twice in three years. Mr McLoughlin said it was an "interesting suggestion" that he was considering in an effort to end the "appalling" number of people killed and seriously injured in accidents where a phone was being used in the hand.

First Sight: Toyota Me.We concept

Hot on the fluorescent heels of Renault's recent Twin'Z reveal in Milan, Toyota revealed its own industrial design collaboration, the ME.WE, at a private event at the its upscale showroom Le Rendez-vous Toyota on the Champs Elysées in Paris last week. Designed jointly by Toyota's ED2 studio in the south of France and renowned French architect and industrial designer Jean-Marie Massaud, the ME.WE is a polyvalent 4-seat electric vehicle to "combat the crisis". It is designed to be simple and functional, yet also project an image of intelligence for our modern times.

Toyota to launch its own version of OnStar

Toyota Motor Sales said today that it is launching a telematics system similar to General Motors' OnStar that will be available on some Lexus and Toyota vehicles in late summer. At the Consumer Electrics Show today in Las Vegas, Toyota detailed its plans for the system, which has different features for each brand. On Toyota vehicles, the system will be called Safety Connect; on Lexus models it will be called Enform.