Drivers caught using mobile phones while driving face on-the-spot fines this week as SA Police conduct a safety operation
October 17, 2011
Police in South Australia will be targeting drivers who use their mobile phones this week.
They will be issuing on-the-spot fines for drivers who exhibit distracted driving behaviour during their Operation Safe October, which is a state-wide road safety operation in a bid to reduce the state’s rising road toll.
It is estimated that 30 percent of fatal crashes are caused by driver distraction, SA Police Officer in Charge of the Traffic Support Branch Superintendent Linda Fellows says.
“Time and time again police see the tragic results when drivers take their attention off the road for less than one second,” she says.
“Your focus behind the wheel is far more important than the text message you are sending or reading behind the wheel.”
The most common types of driver distraction are visual, audio, physical and cognitive – which is the things drivers are thinking about while driving.
Any lapse in concentration increases the risk of the vehicle being involved in a crash, Fellows says.
There will be a high police presence across SA, with directed patrolling activities, speed detection and static and mobile random driver testing.
On-the-spot fines will be issued for speeding, drink and drug driving, driver inattention and failing to wear seatbelts.
Operation Safe October will continue until the end of this month.