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MARY ARGUE
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Cell phone use and a lack of seatbelt use had more than 25 drivers pinged with fines in Masterton on Tuesday. Police were operating checkpoints outside the Z petrol station on Chapel St, State Highway 2, at about 6pm. Within a couple of hours, officers issued six people with fines for using cell phones and another 21 without seatbelts.
Wairarapa Police Area Commander Scott Miller said the district road policing team were running an operation focused on speed, restraints and cell phone use. He said the team from Hutt and Wairarapa was “anything upwards of 40 staff” and included a prevention team that visited the region regularly.
“They come over en masse. It’s good and high visibility.”
A police spokesperson said the checkpoint was part of a police roading strategy to make roads safer for all drivers.
