Minister open to upping fines for drivers caught using their phone

In a special edition of The Bulletin: Why a motorist was called by police while driving on the motorway.

Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Monday, September 16.

In today’s edition: Wayne Brown hasn’t decided if he’ll run for a second term, the government pushed through weaker carbon emissions standards in time for the car industry’s deadline, and the government minister that wants more MPs speaking te reo Māori.

But first, in a special report, a look at the issue of distracted drivers and why one driver was surprised to get a call from the cops. Find the full story on The Spinoff here.

(Image: Tina Tiller / The Spinoff)

‘It was quite baffling’

An Auckland motorist was surprised to receive a phone call from a police officer telling him to stop using his mobile phone – while he was still driving. The driver, who The Bulletin has agreed not to name, admits interacting with his dash-mounted phone to check the navigation on a recent journey, but said it was counterintuitive to then be called up. Police claimed the driver had been holding his phone, and said the roadside officer had mouthed to the driver to “get off the phone” when he passed them on the motorway.

“I was headed down state highway 16 city bound. I passed a [highway patrol] car, and 15 or 30 seconds later I got a phone call from an unknown number,” the driver explained. He answered, with the phone still mounted on the dash and on speaker. “They identified themselves as ‘the police’ [and asked] ‘why are you on your phone’.” The driver’s response? “Well, I’m talking to you.”

‘Not common’

In comments to The Bulletin, a police spokesperson initially said that calling a motorist to discuss their driving was not standard practice. However, they later added that it was “not common” but, under certain circumstances, “police will occasionally contact registered vehicle owners to discuss driving behaviour”. The number of drivers fined by police for using their phones rose by 25% between 2022 and 2023, reported Newshub, with nearly 60,000 tickets handed out last year. Data from the Ministry of Transport shows that between 2020 and 2022, 287 drivers were involved in fatal or injury crashes caused by cell phone distraction. 

Since taking office, the coalition government has signalled that it would like to see more done to stop drivers using their mobile phones. In February, prime minister Christopher Luxon told TVNZ's Breakfast he was willing to consider higher penalties. “People should not be on their phones while driving,” he said. Currently, the fine for being caught is $150. That’s the same penalty for driving more than 51 metres in a bus lane, as I looked at in a prior report for The Spinoff.

Transport minister Simeon Brown told The Bulletin that this year’s government policy statement on land transport (GPS) included a commitment to review penalties for traffic offences, including consideration of indexing the value of infringements to inflation. “I am expecting to undertake this work over the GPS period,” Brown said.

Could we see ‘smart cameras’ rolled out more widely?

It’s expected that more intelligent speed cameras, including those capable of detecting if a driver is using their phone, will be rolled out as police hand over responsibility of the road camera network to the transport agency. A pilot programme of specialised cameras, reported the Herald, saw more than 50,000 “potential mobile phone use offences” detected over two months. Police were not involved in the trial and the findings did not lead to enforcement action or warning letters.

A Waka Kotahi spokesperson confirmed no cameras are currently being used to detect distracted drivers, and those used in the 2022 trial need “further trials and a law change before they can be used to detect offences”. Earlier this year, reported the Herald, “smart cameras” were installed on a dangerous stretch of Northland highway. However, at this stage they are only being used to catch speeding drivers.

You can read more about distracted drivers in my full report published on The Spinoff this morning. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Weaker emissions standards rushed to meet industry deadline

Meanwhile, in other car-related news, documents released to RNZ reveal the government pushed through weaker carbon emissions standards in order to meet the preferred deadline of the car industry. Eloise Gibson reported that ministry officials had advised Simeon Brown to give cabinet until the end of July to make a decision around “tailpipe emissions standards” on imports. The clean car rules were first introduced to force importers to bring in a mix of high and low-emitting vehicles in order to stop New Zealand becoming a dumping for vehicles other countries didn’t want.

The car industry wanted a decision made in June, and Brown met that deadline. Updated advice from the environment ministry was too late to be considered by cabinet, but officials would have warned Brown that the changes could make it "materially" harder to meet the country's climate targets.

Thanks for coming to our party

If you joined in our treasure hunt, ranked our rankings, emailed, commented, or otherwise celebrated 10 years of The Spinoff with us last week, thank you. We can only exist through your ongoing support.

In case you missed it, you can catch up on our full story here, check out some of the stories that have defined us, enjoy our biggest regrets, or dive into a ranking of all our rankings.

Van Velden wants to determine when a worker is a contractor

A law update to be introduced by the government will clarify the legal test for when employers could be considered contractors or workers, reported BusinessDesk’s Dileepa Fonseka (paywalled). There will be four elements to the contractor test, including whether there is a written agreement specifying that the person is an independent contractor and the business not restricting the worker from taking on other clients or working for competitors. The minister overseeing the chance, Act’s Brooke van Velden, said it would be a “gateway test” applied before other common law tests, such as those used in a recent court decision involving ride share operator Uber.

“What would happen is that if these four tests are met then the Employment Court or Employment Relations Authority would say ‘this test has been met, this person is an independent contractor’, and so therefore they would not be able to go down the route of the intention and integration test, but if they hadn’t met those four criteria then they would be able to move onto that current test,” said van Velden.

As part of her work to promote the law change, reported Fonseka, van Velden answered a DoorDash delivery request from a Malaysian restaurant on Sunday morning. The delivery was carried out while the minister was in her car with her own face emblazoned on the side.

Wayne Brown hasn’t decided if he’ll run for a second term

Auckland mayor Wayne Brown won’t say if he intends to run for a second term in the top job, but claims internal polling shows he’s more popular than prime minister Christopher Luxon. In a wide-ranging interview with TVNZ’s Q+A yesterday morning, the mayor said that “lots and lots of people” have approached him about a second campaign, but he hasn’t made up his mind yet. “What I'm concentrating on is doing the best for the ratepayers of Auckland — they seem to be quite liking that.”

A number of names have been thrown around as possible mayoral contenders for the super city, including ex-cabinet ministers Simon Bridges and Paula Bennett. Before becoming mayor, Brown indicated he may only seek a single term in the role.

Reflecting on his time in the job, Brown admitted he “turned off” the media in the early days (Brown gave so few interviews we even ranked them in early 2023) but had now developed a “reasonable relationship”. On his team of councillors, Brown said they were “all good in their own way”, but unlike cabinet they were there to represent “the complete range of the political spectrum”.

Behind the Story: Ten years of The Spinoff

Ten years ago, a website was launched. It was a TV blog, dedicated to the most prestige and the most comforting of shows, and it had two writers on staff, founder Duncan Greive and film critic Alex Casey. The first article ever published by thespinoff.co.nz was about the return of Full House. Today, that editorial has an editorial team of 20, with writers and editors in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. We have podcasts, like this one, video series and live events. The Spinoff 10 years on looks very different to the little TV blog that launched in September 2014. But some names persist.

Click and Collect

• Prime minister Christopher Luxon says he was “completely unaware” of any historical allegations of child sexual abuse against a former party minister.

• A candid David Seymour opens up on what “collapsed” Act’s support during the election campaign, and explains why he no longer comes to the defence of journalists. (NZ Herald Premium, paywalled)

• The coalition government is planning to drop what it calls a "huge layering of personal liabilities for directors" to encourage more listings on the stock exchange.

• Efforts to tackle crime in Auckland’s CBD could be working, with the government touting a 22% drop in serious assaults.

• The whole range of Aotearoa’s 2024 Kia Kaha clothing sold out online at The Warehouse just minutes after going on sale on Saturday.

• Government minister Tama Potaka wants more MPs speaking te reo Māori.

• If you regularly tune into parliament TV, you’ve probably heard Winston Peters namedrop “a man called Ngata”. Audrey Young speaks to Peters and looks at how Ngata’s memory has been pulled into the treaty debate. (NZ Herald Premium, paywalled)

• International flights are returning to Dunedin and Hamilton, thanks to Jetstar.

• Donald Trump says he hates Taylor Swift after she endorses Kamala Harris.

Right now on The Spinoff

Max Rashbrooke asks if David Seymour “saved” school lunches – or enshittified them? A lockdown birth, an abortion, and an excruciating back injury: Annie Wolfe traversed three hospital rooms on her hard road to motherhood, she writes for The Spinoff Essay. Gabi Lardies attempts a line dance at Auckland’s “first annual” hoedown at the Grey Lynn RSC. Antonia Prebble takes us through her life in television, including a quest to find Play School pens and a glitter disaster on The Tribe. Indie darling Molly Payton shares her perfect weekend playlist.

That’s it for this morning, thanks for reading. I’ll catch you back tomorrow.

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