Western Bay of Plenty cops aiming to change driver behaviour by fining cellphone users

Western Bay of Plenty police are working to reduce the numbers of drivers using cellphones. Photo / NZME

Knees steering cars and inattentive driving is the kind of behaviour Western Bay of Plenty Police are trying to change.

Road policing manager senior sergeant Wayne Hunter is behind a "seatbelts and cellphones" initiative aiming to have drive securely fastened and to reduce the number of drives using their mobiles.

He said there would be staff out every day checking for the illegal behaviour.

This involved a "spotter", checking cars at one point of a road, who would then radio a colleague to pull the driver over.

While drivers had been generally good at wearing seatbelts, cellphone usage was not.

"There are a lot of people using their phone still."

Last week, in an hour-and-a-half period, 32 drivers were fined for using their phones.

Hunter said where staff would be working would change but would be across the Western Bay of Plenty.

"It can cause serious danger to people ... last week we saw two using their knees to drive. They weren't even looking up."

The initiative was semi-permanent and Hunter hoped the police presence would deter people from doing it.

It was also an opportunity to also remind drivers of the fine increase for doing so: the penalty for using a hand-held mobile phone while driving is $150 and 20 demerit points.

The fine for anyone caught went up from $80 to $150 last April.

Between 2015 and 2019 there were 22 deaths and 73 serious injuries from crashes in which drivers were distracted by a phone.

Hunter said even small crashes, often nose-to-tail, were a "total inconvenience".

Most of the time people picked up their phone to see if anything needed picking up from the store on the way home, he said.

"My message is not to do it, pull over and do it that way."