People will continue to play with their mobile phones while driving unless tougher fines are introduced, Police Commissioner Graham Ashton has warned.

Mr Ashton on Thursday said the threat of losing $496 and four demerit points was not enough to stop potentially deadly driver distractions.

Mobile phone use is a growing distraction for drivers.

"It's not having much of a deterrent effect at the moment," he told 3AW radio station.

"One of the major, major issues we're having at the moment is driver distraction and a lot of that is the mobile phone."