ANYONE caught using a mobile phone while driving will lose 10 points off their licence, this long weekend.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
For the first time, illegal mobile phone use has been included in double demerits, along with speeding, seatbelt offences and motorcycle helmet offences.
Operation Slow Down, the long weekend road safety enforcement operation, starts at 12.01am on Friday, September 28 and concludes at 11.59pm on Monday, October 1.
The operation will target the “big five” causal factors behind serious injury and fatal crashes including speeding, drink / drug driving, seatbelt offences, fatigue and distraction.
Sen Cost Ian Stibbard, a crash investigator attached to Chifley Police District, said drivers can expect to see high visibility policing on our roads and highways during the operation, and reminded drivers every highway patrol car was a random breath testing and drug testing unit.
Sen Const Stibbard said traffic flow through the area, given the school holidays and lead up to the Bathurst 1000, was expected to be significant.
He urged people to slow down, drive to the conditions and take regular breaks.
He said driver distraction, including mobile phone use, was a big problem among drivers, and any distraction can have catastrophic results.
