The NSW government is making no apologies for raising the demerit penalty for mobile phone use while driving to six points for the Christmas period.
"You might think this is a bit tough. I don't give a damn," said Roads Minister Duncan Gay. "We're deliberately making it tough. But if I save your life, I've done you a favour."
The current demerit penalty for using your phone while driving is three points, which is set to increase to four in early 2016. Drivers caught using their phone in the double demerit period between December 24 and January 3 will accumulate six demerit points.
Mr Gay cited the "edgy" NSW "Get Your Hands Off It Campaign" as a forerunner to the demerit point rise.
"The fines that the police have handed out have dropped from 52,000 to 35,000 off the back of our Get Your Hands Off It Campaign," Mr Gay said. "That's why we're going into the next step."
Deputy Premier and Minister for Police Troy Grant said the current road toll of 307 people - 34 more than last year - was unacceptable, and that the community simply wasn't listening.
"We have seen that it only takes two seconds of distraction for you to suddenly be vulnerable to death - of yourself, or to cause the death of others behind the wheel of a motor vehicle," Mr Grant said. "We make no apologies for being tough in this area."
"We know that travelling at 60 kilometres an hour, you can travel 33 metres blind if you're looking at your phone," said Mr Gay. "At a 100 kilometres an hour, you're travelling the length of an Olympic swimming pool in those two seconds."
Between 2009 and 2013 in NSW, 226 drivers were involved in crashes with mobile phone use as a contributing factor. This included six drivers involved in fatal crashes, and 101 drivers involved in crashes causing injuries, according to figures from the NSW Centre for Road Safety.
But the number of fines issued for breaches of mobile phone laws has dropped in the past five years. Nevertheless Mr Gay said that the 36,000 fines issued last year was still too many, while anecdotal evidence suggested more people were using phones while driving.
Sydney model Sarah Durazza died in 2014 after her car crashed into a tree. She lost control of the vehicle seconds after she answered a call from her boyfriend.
In 2012, 20-year-old Brooke Richardson was killed after her car crashed moments after she sent a text message.
"We all see them," said Mr Grant. "Particularly professional drivers see them from buses and trucks. People are losing their lives and they're killing others."
Yahoo News reports American deaths due to mobile phone use jumped 8.1 per cent in the first half of 2015.
This was the biggest six month jump in traffic deaths since 1977.
"It doesn't matter where you drive in the state, whether you're in the cities or you're in the regions," said Mr Grant. "If you're gonna use your mobile phone, my cops will get you."
