POLICE have caught more than 900 drivers using mobile phones within Brimbank across several months.
From November 2009 until July this year, 942 travellers in the Brimbank police service area were pulled over after using a mobile while driving.
Fourteen of the drivers were on their L or P-plates at the time of their offence.
Within the Wyndham police service area, 971 drivers were caught on their mobiles during the same period.
Across the rest of the West in the same period, Maribyrnong had 645 drivers fined for using a mobile and Hobsons Bay 339.
Sergeant Rod Stein from Brimbank Highway Patrol said officers were always looking for motorists breaking road rules, including using their phones.
“They’re offences weconsider in relation to safetyand we tend to target them like we would others, such as not wearing a seatbelt, speeding and running a red light. We are actively targeting these offences,” he said.
“All my patrol cars are on alert for these kind of offences, all the time.”
Sgt Stein said there were a large number of nose-to-tail collisions in Brimbank and police believed they were often caused by driver inattention or distraction, such as adjusting a radio or using a phone.
“The best way not to bedistracted by your mobile while driving is to turn it off,” hesaid.
“If you’re on your P-plates, you can’t use your mobile full-stop.”
Sgt Stein said fully-licensed motorists could use mobile phones if the instrument was in a fixed cradle and they were not touching the phone.
“If you’re using the phone at all in your hand, you’re committing an offence,” he said.
He said police would crack down on road safety in the lead-up to Christmas.
