AA launches fun but 'deadly serious' campaign, featuring comedian How to DAD, to get Kiwi drivers off their phones

March 12, 2019

Despite being illegal for 15 years, the number of Kiwis caught on their phones isn't declining.

AA has launched a new campaign to get Kiwi drivers off their phones and while they're using humour to get the message across, the issue is being treated as a "deadly serious" problem.

AA Road Safety spokesman Dylan Thomsen said despite it being illegal since 2004 to use your phone while you drive, the number of Kiwi motorists looking at their screens while driving hasn't decreased.

"We're pretty bad and we seem to be getting worse," Mr Thomsen told TVNZ1's Breakfast.

"The studies that have been done have shown about three per cent of the people that are on the road at any given time are using their cellphones.

"You might think that's a pretty small figure, but that means that any minute of the day there's tens of thousands of people on their phones right now being distracted."

AA have teamed up with comedian How to DAD for their latest campaign, getting the Kiwi father to perform some humerous options to stop people reaching for their phones while behind the wheel.

Solutions included wearing oven mits so people can't use their touch screens, putting mattresses all over their car for "extra protection" or taping their phones to the roof so it was inaccessible.

However, the best and easiest solution was saved until last - using the "do not disturb" option so there were no reasons to interact with it.

Mr Thomsen said the fun ad has a serious message.

"While we've tried to use humour in the videos that we're putting out there, because we think that's a really great approach, it's actually a really deadly, serious topic.

"There's people being killed, there's people being injured, people losing loved ones because somebody couldn't leave the phone alone in the car."

Using a moblie device while driving has been illegal since 2004 and if caught, comes with an $80 fine and 20 demerit points.

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