The Bay of Plenty Times surveyed traffic through 9th Ave roundabout for 15 minutes from 8.25am on August 11 and saw four drivers travelling into town through the roundabout texting while driving.
Head of Western Bay road policing Senior Sergeant Ian Campion said the number of people using their cellphones while driving had reached "plague proportions".
"Drivers need to wake up and realise they are putting themselves and others at risk, and it is not worth it."
Mr Campion said the increase in drivers using their cellphones while behind the wheel was a significant concern to police.
"Using mobile phones and any other distractions while you are driving heightens the risk of you being involved in a crash," he said.
The consequence for driving while using a cellphone was an infringement notice, but Mr Campion said the real consequence was causing injury to the driver, passengers and other innocent road users.
"People need to take personal responsibility and road safety is everyone's responsibility."
He said it was hard to fathom why people would want to use their mobile phones while driving.
"I think it is because people are that connected to their devices they feel they cannot ignore it," he said.
"The less distractions you have in a vehicle, the better chance you have of arriving safely at your destination."
He urged drivers to turn off their devices or put them out of sight while driving.
"There is no excuses really," Mr Campion said. "Most modern vehicles have Bluetooth and for those vehicles that do not, there are hands-free kits available."
AA spokesman Dylan Thomsen said the increase in tickets was likely because police were cracking down on the issue.
"But the reality is the number of people caught is only a tiny fraction of how many are doing it."
Fifteen per cent of AA members surveyed admitted to having recently used their cellphone illegally while driving, Mr Thomsen said.
"It would be rare to not see someone using a phone at some point while you are driving these days."
Mr Thomsen said the inescapable fact was using a phone took away some of the driver's mental focus from driving.
"That is going to mean you are slower to react to anything unexpected and more at risk of missing seeing another person or vehicle around you."
He said one-in-four injury crashes involved a driver being distracted or not paying attention.
"You are four times more likely to be in a crash if you talking on your cellphone while driving and the risks are even higher if texting."
Every driver knew it was illegal to use their phone without a hands-free kit, Mr Thomsen said.
"But the fact so many do it indicates they do not recognise the risks that go with it.
"We think much more can be done with public campaigns to show people how using your phone increases your chances of being in a crash, but we also see technology as a key part of solving the problem."
Mr Thomsen said the latest version of the iPhone could detect when it was in motion and would automatically put itself into a driving mode where people could not make or receive calls or messages unless they chose to turn it off.
"The AA thinks this is a great step that will make it harder and less tempting for people to use their phone when they are behind the wheel, and we hope other phone manufacturers will follow suit in the future."
Brake's NZ director Caroline Perry said the national road safety charity was extremely concerned with the rise in the number of people caught using a mobile phone while driving.
"Drivers making a phone call at the wheel are four times more likely to be involved in a crash than those giving the road their full attention," she said.
"Texting whilst driving increases your crash risk by up to 23 times."
She said Brake was seeing an increase in crashes caused by distractions globally.
"Our smartphones are addictive and we find it difficult to switch off from them. If you are using your phone at the wheel you are putting lives at risk.
"We urge drivers to put their phone off or on silent and out of reach so you cannot be tempted to use it when you are at the wheel."