Flout mobile phone law
The most recent figures from police for last year – until November 30 – show 21,153 New Zealanders were ticketed $1.69 million for flouting rules around mobile phone use while driving. That’s an average of 67 tickets a day. The figures show 2998 motorists were ticketed in Canterbury, 919 in the Southern District, 2062 in Wellington, 1596 in Waikato, and 2910 in Auckland. The rest of the tickets were divided between Waitemata, Counties/Manukau, Bay of Plenty, Eastern District, Central District, and Tasman.
The penalties for using a mobile phone whilst driving were an $80 fine, and 20 demerit points. In 2017 the New Zealand Transport Agency ruled out increasing the penalty after calls to double it.
Constable Ben Grant, of the Canterbury Highway Patrol Unit, said police were ‘‘putting more focus’’ on offenders.
‘‘Themore that people do use mobile phones while they’re driving, then there’s more chance that one day a child might run out from behind a car . . . it only takes one little glance at your phone to put other people and yourself at risk.’’
However, road safety commentator CliveMatthewWilson said he believed police weren’t doing enough to penalise texting drivers.
‘‘You can stand beside any major intersection in the country andwatch drivers talking and texting as they drive by. These drivers continue to use their phones because they consistently get away with it, for the most part.’’ he said.
Despite the risks, aHarvard study found people felt safe while using their phone and driving.
The study said people used common sense and experience as a guide.
‘‘Basically, if we reply to a text or email while driving once or twice and nothing happens – no crash – we think it’s safe to continue [doing that behaviour].’’
Furthermore, the study pointed out people thought it was safe to pick up their phones at red lights.
‘‘We think can pick up our phone and then put it back down again when the light turns green,’’ it said.
The problem occurred when the phones were put down and attention was returned to the task of driving. It then took almost half aminute for the brain to reorient itself and process what the eyes were now looking at.