Driver pulled over at police checkpoint for brushing teeth

A person was pulled over for brushing their teeth while driving in Dunedin yesterday. Photo / 123rf

A person was pulled over for brushing their teeth while driving in Dunedin yesterday.

The hygiene-conscious driver was stopped at a police checkpoint that was targeting distracted drivers in Crawford St, between 9.50am and 10.30am.

A police spokesman said the driver was spoken to and educated.

Eight other people were caught using their mobile phone, three were not wearing a seatbelt and a number of drivers were spoken to about holding vaping devices while driving,

In line with police focusing on motorcyclists this month, a number of motorcyclist were also pulled over and spoken to, he said.

In 2015, Auckland Transport launched the "Oi" campaign, featuring film clips at cinemas, postings on social media and billboards around the Auckland region.

AT community transport manager Claire Dixon at the time said as well as smart phone distractions, drivers were reading books, eating their breakfast and using their car as a portable beauty salon.

"I regularly see a man shaving and brushing his teeth heading on the motorway at Waterview."

In 2011, a teacher crashed her car while brushing her teeth, telling police she had lost concentration.

The 65-year-old, who was treated at Blenheim Hospital, had also been drinking, Blenheim District Court was told.

Sergeant Graham Single said at the time she was driving towards Picton when she set the cruise control of her car at 100km/h, "got out her toothbrush and started brushing her teeth".

After veering to the left, she over-corrected and crashed into a rock bank on the right side of the road, the Marlborough Express reported.

Her blood alcohol level was 135mg. The legal limit is 80mg.

The woman told the judge her teaching job at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology had "more or less gone" after the earthquake and she had been upset at the time about family problems.