Bike patrol unit targets mobile phone use in Sydney Rd crackdown
Locking doors on police officers, searching routes on Google Maps and not wearing a seatbelt – it’s just some of the crazy driver behaviour the Leader saw during exclusive access to a bike patrol operation. SEE HOW IT UNFOLDED
North West
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It takes less than a couple of minutes.
In fact, senior constables Uwe Stolzenberg and Ferdi Cokelek are still posing for pre-operation photos when they spot the first offence.
The pair spring into action, stop a truck driver and swiftly issue a ticket to his passenger who has failed to put on his seatbelt.
It is just one of dozens of road safety infringements the Leader sees issued to careless motorists during a few hours along Sydney and Glenlyon roads and Dawson St in Brunswick.
The Leader was granted exclusive access on Monday (December 16) to the Fawkner Highway Patrol’s innovative and effective bike patrol operation aimed at removing drivers dangerously distracted by mobile phones from the road and ensuring travellers buckle up.
Working in teams of two or three officers pedal next to slow moving and stationary traffic peering into cars from the bike lane.
When one spots an offence they tell the driver to pull over so they write up a ticket.
One woman is so oblivious to Sen-Constable Cokelek standing beside her driver’s side door that he watches her bring up directions on Google Maps for five seconds before he knocks on the window and gives her the fright of her life.
Another driver continues tapping away at her screen even after Sergeant Michelle Collier knocks on her window.
She then panics, realising it is the police and throws the phone on the passenger seat and locks the doors.
“You can’t hold your mobile, if you’re at the (traffic) lights or if you’re driving, it doesn’t matter, you cannot hold it physically,” Sen Constable Stolzenberg tells one driver.
“There’s too many pedestrians, too many bike riders getting hit, especially around this intersection.”
One woman begs for leniency when she realises she is about to lose her licence due to an accumulation of demerit points.
But as Sen-Constable Stolzenberg tells her, 12 points over three years is “a lot” and perhaps her driving behaviour needs to change.
‘HOPEFULLY SHE DOESN’T DO IT AGAIN’
Perched up on the footpath near the Brunswick Town Hall, Sen-Constable Cokelek spots a driver looking down and up while sitting in traffic.
He pulls his bike on to the road and cycles up to the passenger window where he observes her mobile phone in both hands in her lap, with the woman looking down at the screen.
“I’ve knocked on her window, she’s looked at me and then realised it was the police,” he says later.
“She’s thrown her phone on the passenger seat and I told her to pull around the corner.
“She told me she’s using her phone for directions and obviously she’s paying attention to her phone and not the road and that’s why she got a ticket.
“It’s very dangerous – here you’ve got pedestrians, trams, trucks (and) the roads are wet today – there’s really no excuse for having your head down and not paying attention to what’s going on.
“Hopefully she’s learned a lesson and doesn’t do it again.”
MAPS AGAIN
Not long after Sen-Constable Cokelek rides over to another suspicious driver waiting at a red light on Dawson St.
“I’ve looked in through her window and she’s got her phone on her lap, on her left leg,” he says after issuing the ticket.
“The screen was lit up, there’s a map on the screen with a route plan and she just had no idea I was even there – I was there for a good five seconds looking at the phone.
“I’ve eventually knocked on the window, she’s been startled and I told her to pull over and she’s admitted to having her phone on her lap and using it for maps.”
PEDESTRIANS ‘OBLIVIOUS’ TO TRAFFIC
Sen-Constable Stolzenberg has just finished issuing a ticket to a driver for using a mobile phone when he looks up and spots a pedestrian darting across the road only 30m from the traffic lights.
“Next time use the crossing at the lights,” he tells the middle-aged woman who was making her way to the Brunswick Library.
She is just one of a number of jaywalkers caught on the day – people risking their lives by not crossing with the traffic lights.
“They’re willing to cut through traffic being distracted on their phones, holding their earphones in, just being oblivious to traffic that’s around them,” Sgt Collier says.
“They don’t want to use these lights for one reason or another, when they’re perfectly workable and going to save their lives.”
North West Metro road safety acting Inspector Ash Wigg says too many lives are being lost on Victoria’s roads in 2019.
“If the lights are not green, don’t cross,” he says.
“If you’re on your mobile phone, don’t have your headphones in – don’t be distracted because you can’t hear car horns (and) you can’t hear cars moving around.”
OPERATION ROADWISE
All up the Leader counted 15 infringements issued by the team in the few hours when we joined them on Sydney Rd.
The numbers for their entire days work were unavailable to media due to police industrial action.
Each driver caught on their phone is fined $496 and docked four demerit points, with each seatbelt offence costing $330.
The officers say they averaged about 25 mobile phone offences each per shift on the bikes – almost $25,000 a day in fines.
Sgt Collier says the highly populated area around Sydney Rd in Brunswick is the worst spot for mobile phone driver distraction in Moreland and Moonee Valley.
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She warns the bike patrol team will be out in force over the Christmas and New Year period as part of Operation Roadwise to make sure people get home safely to their families.
“As traffic is building up people get lazy, get complacent, get distracted and they look at their mobile phones,” Sgt Collier says.
“If that message could just get through – if we could have everyone just staying off your phone, paying attention to the road and being aware of what’s around you.”
Operation Roadwise runs until January 5, 2020.