Mitcham: undercover police target distracted drivers
Do you check your phone while you’re stopped at the traffic lights? You might want to think again after undercover police targeted offenders at an intersection in Whitehorse.
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Drivers who check their phones while they’re stopped at traffic lights have been stung by undercover police at an intersection in Whitehorse.
Officers pretended to be ordinary pedestrians as they targeted distracted drivers at the intersection of Whitehorse and Mitcham roads in Mitcham.
Two officers caught 26 drivers using their phones between 10am and 3pm on Wednesday, September 18, slugging them with $496 fines and four demerit points.
Forest Hill police Acting Sergeant Mark Dunbabin said police were trying to emphasise the danger of being distracted behind the wheel.
“It is important for people to know that while being stopped at lights or in heavy traffic, you are still driving,” he said.
He said drivers’ surprise when officers walked up to their cars and knocked on their windows highlighted their lack of awareness of their surroundings when using their phones.
“It shows how frequently people are distracted from the road, the vehicles and pedestrians around them,” he said.
Act-Sgt Dunbabin said a risk of drivers looking at their phones while stationary was that they were likely to hurry and “act on impulse” when the light turned green or their path became clear, while having reduced awareness of their surroundings.
Police even caught some drivers looking at their phones as they approached the intersection — driving with their heads down.
Act-Sgt Dunbabin said it was “disturbing” most people still tried to hide their phone down near their laps, meaning they were aware they were offending, but took the risk anyway.
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He said police would continue to target the dangerous behaviour, and had run a similar undercover operation at the same spot, which was a hotspot for traffic incidents, two months earlier.
Police nabbed 43 drivers that day, but Act-Sgt Dunbabin said lower traffic volumes were likely the only factor behind the lower stats at last week’s operation.
He’s urging drivers to change their driving behaviour.
“If you need to check a message, make a call, set up your GPS — you need to remove yourself from traffic,” he said.
“Pull over and park.”