Talking on a cellphone while driving has cost a Christchurch motorist $160 and 40 demerit points after he was picked up twice in a police sting.
Police ticketed 46 drivers in just two hours yesterday in an operation aimed at checking seatbelt use and cracking down on drivers using cellphones.
The twice-stung driver, who declined to give his name to The Star, wasn't too concerned about being hit with two instant fines of $80 each.
"It's the demerit points (20 each time) and the fact (the police officer) said he could send me to court because I've got two fines in the same day for the same offence."
He said he used his cellphone for work and found it difficult to understand people if he was using a bluetooth hands-free system.
Constable Chris McFarlin was astonished to see the driver again within an hour of his first offence.
"The infringement notice had absolutely no effect whatsoever," he said.
"I spoke to him about the ramifications and the fact the police could put him in front of a Justice of the Peace and seek disqualification of his licence immediately for recidivist traffic offending.
"With 40 demerit points he's almost halfway to losing his licence for three months."
Senior Sergeant Dean Harker said business people in the busy Straven Rd, Riccarton Rd and Clarence St area alerted police after witnessing a number of near misses caused by drivers using cellphones.
"They were complaining about the number of people coming through on their cellphones texting and not watching what the traffic lights were doing," he said.
Between 9am and 10am yesterday, police caught 28 motorists either not wearing seatbelts or using their cellphone at the wheel - "mainly cellphones", he said.
A further 18, including the man picked up twice, were ticketed in the same area between 12.30pm and 1.30pm.
Senior Sergeant Harker said the tally was "disappointing".
"There were a lot we couldn't get to."
Using cellphones while driving was a "distraction likely to cause accidents", he said.
"The majority of them were texting and it included people in heavy vehicles as well. Some were even checking their emails."
A woman who declined to be named said she had been pulled over while checking her emails.
"I do know not to use my cellphone," she said. "I don't do it too often."
-By Cullen Smith of The Star
