Recent horrifying road accidents underline the deadly consequences of devices behind the wheel
Already this year, 133 people have died on our roads, eight more than the same time last year — 65 drivers, 23 passengers, four pushbike cyclists, 18 pedestrians, 21 motorcycle riders and two pillion passengers. Many of these crashes did not have to occur.
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Members of the NSW Police Force attend the scene of many tragic and heartbreaking crashes in our state every day where people have been seriously or permanently injured or killed.
Already this year, 133 members of our community have died on our roads, eight more than the same time last year.
Some 65 drivers, 23 passengers, four pushbike cyclists, 18 pedestrians, 21 motorcycle riders and two pillion passengers make up that number.
These are our friends, sons, daughters, sisters, mothers and fathers.
These crashes affect whole communities.
And the sad fact is, many of these crashes did not have to occur.
Inappropriate speed, fatigue, drugs and alcohol and not wearing seat belts have all contributed to this terrible statistic this year.
Increasingly, we are seeing more and more cases of driver distraction occurring on our roads, contributing to this devastating toll.
So far in NSW, 9069 drivers have been booked for using a mobile phone illegally, and disturbingly, more than 1000 of these bookings have been issued to learner or P-plate drivers.
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Forty five drivers have also been booked twice for the same offence. This is unforgivable.
The statistics on infringements issued for this offence are across several age groups specifically, 18 to 25-year-olds at 22 per cent, 26 to 35-year-olds at 34 per cent, and 36 to 45-year-olds at 22 per cent being the highest age groups of offenders for this particular offence.
Recently I visited the United States and the police in many states told me of the increasing use of mobile video calls by people while driving.
This trend cannot be accepted in this state.
Distracted driving puts both drivers and passengers in danger but also innocent people travelling in the opposite direction.
We have recently seen the horrific results of head-on collisions where several innocent people’s lives have been tragically taken.
Our officers are reporting that they are also seeing more and more drivers watching videos or TV shows on either their phones or video display units in their vehicles.
We realise that children do watch videos while travelling in vehicles with their parents.
The only place for these videos is in rear seats, well away from the driver to avoid distraction.
We need, as a community, to change the culture of mobile phone use in motor vehicles.
It needs to be socially unacceptable to use a phone while driving in any circumstances.
Passengers need to play their part and understand clearly that the filming or interacting with drivers which in any case results in that driver having to take their eyes off the road puts those inside that vehicle at considerable danger.
Pedestrians are also increasingly watching their phones while crossing roads. This has already led to deaths of pedestrians in our state this year.
You only have to walk down the street or in a shopping centre to see how distracted people are while on their phones.
Video chatting complicates the situation even further.
The officers of the New South Wales Police Force will continue to target those who ignore these messages, with those offenders subject to $337 fine and loss of five demerit points.
The state government is taking this seriously by trialling new technology that will detect drivers using their phones and issue infringements to those drivers similar to speed cameras.
But we need your help to stop this behaviour.
Parents, passengers, friends and even children need to make their voice heard, they need to make it socially unacceptable for drivers to place themselves and others in danger by using mobile phones while driving.
There have been many instances recently where passengers have been live streaming drivers committing offences.
In some cases, this has captured seriously dangerous driving behaviour.
The NSW Police Traffic and Highway Patrol Command Strike Force Puma has acted against many drivers who have been filmed doing burnouts, committing road rage or committing other offences. These drivers have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
This should also send a clear message to passengers in any vehicle that filming of drivers while in control of vehicles causes considerable distraction and this behaviour must stop.
The message should be clear. Real friends should not let this happen, be heard, be honest, speak up, say something.
Don’t let your friends put you or others in danger.
Let’s make this behaviour unacceptable.
Michael Corboy is Assistant Commissioner of the NSW Police Force
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