As more and more people call and text from behind the wheel, police are worried drivers are not getting the message.
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New statistics show the number of people caught driving while using their mobile phones has tripled over the last five years.
Since 2009, it has been illegal to use hand-held cellphones while driving, but this has not deterred many drivers from making the call to pick up their phone.
Figures released by the police show 21,148 people were fined for doing so in 2014, compared to 13,547 the year before and just 8232 in 2010.
National Manager for Road Policing Superintendent Steve Greally said it was disturbing that many drivers still did not seem to understand the risks.
"You can try and educate and enforce, but we've got to accept that some people will not see the risk," he said.
"Unfortunately, those are the people that are at the most risk of causing serious injury or death, to themselves and to other people."
Mobile phone offences have risen since 2010. Graphic: SUPPLIED
Mr Greally said the rise in offences could be because there are more people with cellphones on the road.
"Every year, we get more people getting their driver's licences. Some of these people have had cellphones for years, and may be not aware of the risk."
Last year, Research New Zealand found 90 percent of all New Zealanders owned a mobile device, and 88 percent used one every day.
An Otago University study, in 2011, found 35 percent of those learning to drive admitted to texting regularly, and 33 percent thought it was safe to do so.
The same study showed 41 percent said they thought it was safe to call while driving, and 72 percent said it was safe to call handsfree.
With cellphones increasingly relied on for everything from email and online banking to finding directions, how do you get people to switch off?
Mr Greally said the issue was a similar one to drink-driving, and while both were big problems to tackle, heavy campaigning against alcohol use on the road had brought very promising results.
In the last five years, drink-driving offences dropped by 40 percent.
Advertising campaigns targeting alcohol-abuse continued to evolve during that time, and have ranged from those trying to shock, to others attempting to get the message across with humour.
AA spokesperson Dylan Thompson said ads that relied less on shock value and more on relatable messages had been the most successful.
"Trying to shock and scare people, that can have a place too, but people are able to say, 'well, that's not me'," he said.
"You really want people to be able to take it on board and see it as something that applies to them in their own driving and their own life."
Auckland Transport's 'Oi' social media campaign has attempted to do just that in its ad encouraging passengers to stop drivers using their phones.
Campaign manager Rob Pitney said it targeted 20- to 29-year-olds, because they were seen as the group most likely to use cellphones in the car.
"Young people have now grown up with cellphones and it's very difficult to get them to put it down for 10 minutes or so where they might be on the road," he said.
Mr Pitney said just like drunk-driving campaigns, the best way to tackle this issue was to make it a social taboo.
"Just the same as it's not acceptable to get in the car with a drunk driver, it's not acceptable to get into a car with someone who's gonna be using their cellphone," he said.
"We really need to encourage passengers to put peer pressure on drivers to cut it out and suggest that it's just not the thing to do.
He said the results from the social media campaign had been promising, with 46 percent of those who watched it saying they had reduced texting while driving, and 44 percent saying they had stopped talking on the phone.
