Campaign targets NSW drivers as toll rises

An "unacceptable" spike in the NSW road death toll has prompted the state government to target driver complacency with a new campaign.

The state government says the Towards Zero campaign comes in response to the state's road toll spiralling to 164 in the first six months of the year - 38 higher than at the same time in 2015.

"The numbers we have in our road toll are unacceptable," Police Minister Troy Grant said at the campaign's launch on Wednesday.

Mr Grant says speed, fatigue and distraction continue to be the main reasons for the rising death toll, but "individual complacency" is a significant issue.

"We're hoping that this campaign will finally get people to understand the personal responsibility they have when they get behind the wheel of a car," Mr Grant said.

"(We're) trying to penetrate into every individual's mind, `it can be you, it can be your mother and father, it can be one of your children or a relative'."

The launch comes a day after two NSW teenage drivers were caught exceeding the speed limit by more than 50km/h in separate incidents on Tuesday.

"This risk-taking could have claimed the lives of other innocent road users," Assistant Police Commissioner John Hartley said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Both incidents tell us that not everyone is heeding our call to slow down and be careful on the roads.

"Driving is a privilege, not a right and we ask all drivers, young and old, to slow down."

Roads Minister Duncan Gay said the government was upgrading infrastructure to prevent road accidents, including a $250,000 trial for in-ground traffic lights and $20 million to roll out rumble strips to combat driver fatigue.

But "the person behind the wheel appears to the problem that we're not getting through to", Mr Gay said.