As cars come packaged with more electronic devices,
distracted drivers are contributing to more crashes across the state.
The number of crashes on NSW roads in which driver
distraction was a factor has doubled in less than a decade, figures from the
Centre for Road Safety show.
Seven people were killed over 12 hours on Monday. Police
believe that six of those crashes were caused by human error, including that
which killed Sarah Durazza, 26, who was reportedly on the phone.
Mike Regan, from the University of NSW Transport and Road
Safety group, said attention was increasingly being shifted from the road.
''There are more technologies in cars which drivers are
interacting with,'' he said. ''That's leading to distractions.''
In 2011, drivers distracted by something inside their cars
were a contributing factor in 1585 crashes, compared with 748 in 2004.
More than 900 of those in 2011 led to injury and one to
death.
Crashes in which the use of a hand-held phone contributed
also increased, from 30 to 50. Professor Regan said drivers were bringing more
electronic devices into their cars, such as MP3 players, but also buying new
cars embedded with more technology than five years ago, such as GPS systems.
''We have new ways of a mobile phone connecting with cars
that may cause more distractions than a hand-held phone itself,'' he said.
Lauchlan McIntosh, from the Australasian College of Road of
Road Safety, said it was difficult to legislate against driver distraction and
there should be more investment in solutions that disable devices when cars are
moving.
A NRMA survey last year found that 40 per cent of NSW
drivers said they change the route on their GPS while driving.
A report by a State Parliament committee on road safety this
year recommended better testing of electronic devices for driver distraction
effects, and more enforcement of rules relating to in-car technologies.
Article Credit: www.drive.com.au
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