A woman has been given 34 demerit points and fined almost $2,000 after she was caught allegedly using her mobile phone while driving with four passengers who did not have seatbelts on in the Blue Mountains.

Police officers stopped the woman after claiming she was using a mobile phone while driving through a roundabout in Katoomba yesterday afternoon.

Officers also allege none of the passengers in her vehicle — three children and a man — were wearing seat belts.

The woman has been issued with one penalty notice for using her phone and four others for each of her unrestrained passengers.

She was also fined $1,793.

Double demerit point penalties are in place in NSW until January 1.
Drivers in NSW can accrue 13 demerit points before their licence is suspended.

The woman was one of hundreds of drivers that have been stopped as part of a police traffic operation that began last Friday and will continue until New Year’s Day.

As part of that sting — dubbed Operation Safe Arrivals — NSW Police have issued more than 7,400 speeding infringements.

Traffic and Highway Patrol Command’s Assistant Commissioner, Michael Corboy, said police had also pulled over several people who were driving without a licence.

“If these drivers have a record sufficiently serious that the court has disqualified them from driving — some for extended periods of time — then these drivers should show responsibility, respect the court decision and abide by their ruling,” he said.

-ABC