Tradies not wearing seatbelts or talking on the phone while driving will be among errant drivers under police scrutiny during a month-long road safety campaign.
As part of the national operation starting today Northland police will be targeting four major areas - those not wearing restraints, distractions including using cellphones, impaired drivers under the influence of drugs or alcohol and speeding motorists.
It had come to the notice of officers patrolling in Northland that tradies were some of the worst offenders when it came to not putting on a seatbelt, especially if they were only travelling a short distance.
Northland road policing boss Superintendent Wayne Ewers warned that not only tradies would be stopped if they were not wearing seatbelts but police would be issuing tickets to anyone not belted in.
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Advertise with NZME."Police staff have noticed that tradesmen driving from sub-divisions they are working on fail to put their seatbelts on. And people only going a few kilometres down the road are also not putting their belts on and this is when the crashes happen," Ewers said.
Fifteen of the 40 fatalities last year in Northland were a result of either the person not wearing seatbelts and already of the 17 fatals in the region this year five people had died because they were not wearing seatbelts.
Police across the district would also be carrying out checkpoints where drivers would be breath-tested for alcohol as that was also a factor in a number of fatal crashes.
"If people aren't going to wear their seatbelts or they are drinking we will ticket them."
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Advertise with NZME.Checkpoints would be held across the region, including in rural and coastal communities.
