Ute driver caught by mobile phone camera 38 times
Internal Transport for NSW documents, obtained by The Sunday Telegraph, reveal just who is being caught by the new mobile phone detection cameras set up around Sydney — and where they live. SEE WHICH VEHICLES AND SUBURBS MAKE THE LIST
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Shopkeepers beware: You’re the target for COVID crims
- Keeping women safe: Device spots predators before they attack
Ute-driving tradies top the list of repeat offenders being pinged by mobile phone detection cameras, with one Holden driver caught a staggering 38 times.
An internal state government analysis of its Mobile Phone Detection Camera Program, obtained by The Sunday Telegraph, has revealed in detail who is being caught and where, with the figures showing one in four vehicles were registered to a company.
The “sensitive” Transport for NSW documents covered the warning phase period between December last year and February, and then March to April when motorists began receiving fines.
Of motorists who repeatedly illegally used phones while driving, three per cent were caught on three or more occasions with 11 per cent recording two or more incidents.
A breakdown of the vehicles being repeatedly caught during the analysis period showed a company-registered Holden Crewman ute to top the list with 38 detections, of which 32 occurred between 4 and 8pm, with the remainder between 8pm and midnight.
While that many infringements would result in a prison sentence, it is understood the majority of the breaches occurred during the warning phase.
MORE FROM LINDA SILMALIS:
Christian schools support ban on LGBTIQ+ studies
Teachers with porn record allowed in schools
The next most detected vehicle was a company-registered Toyota HiLux 4 with 13 detections, followed by a ute of the same make but privately-owned with 12.
A privately-owned Nissan Navara ute driver was also detected 12 times, followed by a Subaru Liberty wagon with 11.
A Mitsubishi ASX G10 wagon, also privately-owned, and a business-registered Honda Civic were each detected 11 times.
Another 10 breaches were committed by a motorist driving a Queensland-registered BMW 3200 with a privately-owned Audi sedan and a business-registered Toyota HiLux 4 ute also detected the same amount of times.
As for where most of the motorists being caught using their mobile phones behind the wheel registered their vehicles, the documents showed 757 were from Blacktown, 453 from Enmore Park and 401 from Randwick.
The next most frequent offenders garaged their cars in Merrylands (385), St Clair (382), Guildford (316), Auburn (313), Penrith (312), Maroubra (304), Mount Druitt (272), Mascot (263), Coogee (249) and Greenacre (246).
During the warning period, almost 34,000 motorists were caught breaking the law by using a mobile phone while driving.
The most common time when motorists were caught was in the afternoon peak between 3pm and 6pm.
While ute-drivers topped the list of repeat offenders, cars made up the majority of detections with 21,406 caught on camera, followed by 4,655 utilities and 3,878 vans.
The documents revealed many of the company-registered vehicles detected by the cameras were from car rental companies.
In 2019, police issued more than 6000 fines worth more than $2 million.
GET MORE CONNECTED:
What you get as a subscriber to The Daily Telegraph
Download our app and stay up to date anywhere, anytime
Declaring the cameras a “revenue raising exercise”, state opposition treasury spokesman Walt Secord called Berejiklian Government to show some compassion when it came to mobile phone detection laws, saying that it is “smashing western Sydney tradies”.
“My office has been inundated by tradies saying their livelihoods were already in jeopardy due to the downturn but then they got the shock of discovering that they were going to lose their driving licence,” he said.
“Make no mistake, the NSW economy is being battered by COVID and this is the last thing that our hard working tradies need is to get a hammer to the knuckles by Revenue NSW.
“While I support these laws, it is so unfair to see that utes were in the top four most caught categories in the entire state.”
Furthermore, western Sydney suburbs were among the eight of top 10 suburbs caught, he said.
In addition, the most recent ABS data released show since COVID hit, Blacktown had lost 13,494 jobs and Penrith had lost 11,433 jobs.
Originally published as Ute driver caught by mobile phone camera 38 times