Police crack down on Rotorua drivers flouting phone ban, seatbelt rules

Police say 'too many' drivers are being caught with children not properly belted in. Photo / 123rf

About 140 Rotorua motorists are being snapped for seatbelt offences on average every month — including “too many” failing to properly buckle in children, police say.

Seatbelt fines topping $165,000 were dished out in the city in the first nine months of 2024, as well as almost $65,000 from the roughly 50 drivers a month caught flouting the phone ban.

A top cop said police targeted distracted and improperly restrained drivers — along with impaired drivers and speeders — because those were key factors in whether people walked or were carried away from crashes.

Police data showed 445 drivers were caught on their phones in the first nine months of this year in Rotorua, compared with 656 in the whole of 2023.

Those caught last year racked up infringement notices totalling $96,900, and each driver incurred 20 demerit points — risking a three-month licence suspension if they accumulate 100 demerits in two years.

In nine months, 1112 drivers were ticketed for not wearing a seatbelt, on top of the 1847 in 2023 fined a total of $274,200.

In Taupō, drivers were fined at a monthly rate of about 102 for seatbelt offences and 61 for phone use over the two periods. For the Eastern Bay, it was about 55 a month for seatbelts and 15 for phone use.

Rotorua’s road policing manager Sergeant Jordan Waldron said there were four activities police knew contributed to deaths and injuries on the roads — distracted driving, impaired driving, going too fast for the conditions, and not wearing seatbelts.

“Cellphones are a major distraction behind the wheel and nothing on your phone is so important that it’s worth risking yours, or someone else’s life, on the road.

“When you’re driving, your focus should be on driving. Nothing else,” he said.

Police are cracking down on drivers flouting the mobile phone ban and not wearing seatbelts. Photo / NZME

Waldron said police also saw “too many” unrestrained or improperly restrained drivers and passengers in vehicles.

“We target this area, along with the three other key contributors to serious crashes as we know the impact it can have on whether you walk or are carried away from a crash.

“And too many of the infringements issued for occupants being improperly restrained relate to children either unrestrained or in incorrect car seats.”

Police will continue to target these four behaviours heading into the busy summer months, he said.

“Motorists can expect to see the police out in force right across the district working hard to ensure people get to where they’re going safely.”

The latest Ministry of Transport road crash statistics show not wearing a seatbelt was a factor in 23 fatalities and 150 serious injury crashes in the Bay of Plenty region in 2023 and since 2019 it was a contributing factor in at least 41 fatal crashes and 67 serious injury crashes in this region.

Since 2019, cellphone distraction was also a factor in at least one fatality and five serious injury crashes in the Bay of Plenty.

Brake New Zealand's director Caroline Perry is urging drivers to put their phones down, labelling the risky behaviour as putting themselves and other road users' lives in danger, Photo / NZME

Road safety charity Brake NZ director Caroline Perry said it was “extremely concerning” so many drivers continued to break the law and put their lives and the lives of others at risk by using a phone while at the wheel.

Driving was one of the “most risky and complex tasks” and required complete concentration.

“Using a phone whilst driving reduces your ability to spot and react to hazards, putting you at increased risk of being involved in a crash.”

She said wearing a seatbelt was the “quickest, easiest thing you can do to reduce your risk of being killed or seriously injured if you’re involved in a crash”.

“Taking two seconds to put your belt on could save your life.”

Perry urged drivers to wear a seatbelt on every trip — no matter how short — and to ensure all passengers were belted up, and that children under 148cm tall were in a child seat appropriate for their height and weight.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) said according to the agency’s crash analysis data, distracted driving was a major cause of crashes.

Common distractions included using a mobile phone, eating, drinking, smoking, personal grooming, talking to passengers and reaching for objects.

Fabian Marsh, NZTA strategy director of safety, said seatbelts had been compulsory in New Zealand since the 1970s.

“But despite people knowing seatbelts can save lives and limit the injury severity from a crash research shows that New Zealanders are still dying because they’re not wearing belts.

“Wearing a seatbelt reduces the risk of being killed or seriously injured in a road crash by about 40%. If everyone wore their seatbelts an estimated 25 lives could be saved from road crashes a year.”

He said NZTA encouraged road users to put their phones away or on do-not-disturb mode before setting off.

Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 24 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.