‘There’s still more work to be done’: Police urge drivers not to use phones while driving

DOZENS of motorists were caught out flouting road rules by driving while on their mobile phones last financial year

ALMOST 50 motorists were caught out flouting road rules by driving while on their mobile phones last financial year.

The figure is on par with last financial year’s statistics of 50 offences, despite police activity being limited due to COVID-19 restrictions.

However, the number of offences has dropped from the 2017/2018 financial year when 72 motorists were caught on their phones while driving on Territory roads.

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NT Police Acting Superintendent Paul Faustmann said the message appeared to be getting through to people but the public could still do more to lower the rate.

“We’re actually seeing again, the public are actually starting to take note of it and there is a decline, but in saying that, that decline isn’t such that we can also say, ‘well that’s a job well done,’ there’s still more work to be done,” A/Supt Faustmann said.

A/Supt Faustmann said the public needed to take responsibility for their actions on the road – and not just in respect to driving distracted.

“If we don’t, if the public don’t get on board and take responsibility and share the responsibility on our roads for keeping people safe, we don’t want to head in the same direction as 2019 because that December we lost 12 people, which is a really large number of persons to die on the road, especially on the Territory roads,” he said.

Thirty-three of the 47 offences dished out last financial year were issued in Darwin, 10 in the northern command area and were four handed out in the southern command.

Over the past three years, 169 people have been caught flouting the law and using their phone while behind the wheel.

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Breaking that law incurs a $500 fine and the loss of three demerit points.

The NT Police’s Road Policing Strategy 2019-2021 reports that the public has little understanding of driver distraction and considers it a normal part of driving.

The strategy also reports that if a motorist travelling at 50km/h takes their eyes off the road to look at their phone for just two seconds they would have travelled up to 28m blind.

Driving distracted forms one of the fatal five factors that leads to an increased risk of dying on NT roads.

The other factors include speeding, drink or drug driving, not wearing a seat belt and driving tired.