Motorists using mobile phones while driving will be fined �30

Officers in marked and unmarked cars will be out in the county in February to catch people flouting the law.

Insp Mark Flight said: "We are pulling out all the stops to make sure people do the right thing and switch off before they drive off."

In 2004, the force issued 1,600 fixed penalties but mobiles were implicated in five fatal crashes.

Insp Flight also appealed to employers to remind their staff not to use hand-held phones while on the road.

"People continue to break the law and put their lives and the lives of other road-users at risk... they just don't seem to understand how distracting these phone conversations are," he said.

According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (Rospa), research shows motorists using mobile phones are four times more likely to crash because of the distraction.