Drivers who use phones while mobile will be slugged, roads minister says
HOW bad is the abuse of mobile phones by drivers on our roads? Some are watching movies — or looking at two phones at once. And the NSW Roads Minister says they are going to pay — with big fines.
NSW
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THE phone scourge on our roads is so bad motorists are even streaming Netflix and arranging Tinder hook-ups while driving.
And in some cases police officers have caught drivers using two phones at once instead of focusing on the road.
Roads Minister Duncan Gay confirmed he will slug reckless “idiots” in “the hip pocket” if figures revealing almost 28,000 drivers each year were being caught using mobile phones don’t go down.
It comes as new figures obtained by The Saturday Telegraph show 590 motorists were caught using mobile devices while driving in school zones.
“I am not a fan of draconian fines but we need to see these stats go down — and if the extra demerit points don’t start to deter motorists, then I’ll hit them in the hip pocket,” Mr Gay said.
“Don’t continue to be an idiot — the person you kill could be yourself or even worse, one of your family members.”
NSW Police Highway Patrol Command chief inspector Phillip Brooks said it was frustrating “selfish” people were not getting the message.
He confirmed officers had caught drivers watching movies and TV shows on their mobile devices.
“The community view on this matter is pretty clear that they are against it.”
“The greatest risk is in our school zones where we have seen the most selfish driver behaviour with motorists putting children, parents, siblings, teachers and support staff lives at great risk which is unacceptable,” he said.
“Sadly we have had a number of fatal crashes where it is apparent a mobile phone has been a factor in these sad and tragic events.
“As part of an operation in early September we issued upwards of a 1000 tickets throughout NSW because people were using their mobile phones while driving.”
Obviously the current penalties are not working.
Drivers face fines of $325 and the loss of four demerit points for using a mobile device.
It rises to $433 if caught in a school zone.
A special investigation by The Saturday Telegraph this week laid the situation bare.
In just 15 minutes more than 12 people were snapped using their mobile phones while driving along the Eastern Distributor near Redfern.
In the CBD, a reckless driver too busy looking at her phone was snapped with both hands off the wheel on Eddy Avenue at Central Station as she approached a red light.
On the Warringah Freeway at North Sydney, we caught 15 motorists breaking the law in 30 minutes.
At Chatswood CBD, we easily caught another two drivers putting lives at risk.
NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said it was “stupid beyond belief” and “remarkable” that motorists were becoming so brazen they would be “looking for dates on Tinder and using Netflix” instead of focusing on the roads.
“Doing it around school zones is stupid beyond belief.”
“The community view on this matter is pretty clear that they are against it and you can easily tell when you are driving behind somebody who is on the phone,” he said.
“Doing it around school zones is stupid beyond belief because if you are on the phone you will not even know if you are moving into a school zone or are approaching a crossing.”
Almost 28,000 drivers were booked for using a mobile device while driving this year. Transport for NSW Centre for Road Safety data shows the use of devices was directly linked to 236 crashes between 2010-2014. Of those crashes, there were seven fatalities and 116 serious injuries.
A Centre for Road Safety spokeswoman said the number was probably higher because it was difficult to find evidence of illegal mobile device use at crash scenes leading to under-reportage.
Pedestrian Council of Australia chair Harold Scruby said using a mobile phone was comparable with drink driving. “Anyone who is a repeat offender within three or five years should lose their licence for three to six months.”
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