ACT policing is to concentrate on driver distractions during September as it cracks down on motorists using mobile phones and other causes of inattention at the wheel.
The campaign forms part of the joint ACT Road Safety Strategy 2011-2020 which prioritises a Vision Zero approach to road safety, meaning zero deaths on ACT roads.
Officer in Charge of Traffic Operations, Detective Acting Station Sergeant Marcus Boorman said that throughout the year, the multi-agency road safety strategy targets specific issues and behaviours which contribute to death and serious injuries on Canberra’s roads, with driver distraction among those concerns.
Acting Station Sergeant Boorman said ACT Policing had issued 448 Traffic Infringement Notices (TINs) for driving while using a mobile phone between 1 January and 31 July this year.
“In seven months, police issued more than two TINs for using a mobile phone while driving every, single day, and it’s not good enough,” Acting Station Sergeant Boorman said.
“Think about reading a text message – it only takes a matter of seconds, but those are seconds your eyes are not on the road, and in that time a distracted driver can cause a serious collision,” he said.
“In the three seconds it takes to read a text or social media post, a vehicle going 60 kilometres per hour travels about 50 metres, and can cause irreparable damage to those around you.”
Acting Station Sergeant Boorman said that while the number of TINs issued this year represented a drop on 2018 figures for the same period when 604 TINs were issued he was still “astounded” by the number of people using a mobile phone while driving.
“Whether it’s being distracted by a mobile phone, a pet in the car or having your view obstructed, driving while distracted is a serious offence, and it’s one that road users need to take more seriously before they injure or kill someone,” he said.
