Keeping your eyes on the road is essential for safe driving. But when you look at your phone, you're oblivious to what's around you. In fact, at 50km per hour, even a two second glance at your phone means you'll travel up to 28 metres blind. What will you miss?
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What you can do to avoid distracted driving?
- Install the 'do not disturb' function on your phone. This is a default feature on many phones that you can find in the settings. If your phone doesn't have this feature there are apps you can download to use it.
- Put your phone out of reach such as in the glovebox or car boot.
- Turn your phone on silent, or turn it off completely when driving.
- As a passenger, speak up and encourage others to be safe.
How mobile phones distract
- Physical distraction caused by handling your phone, such as removing your hand from the steering wheel.
- Visual distraction caused by the amount of time you have your eyes off the road.
- Cognitive distraction caused by lapses in attention and judgement. This happens when you have to perform two mental tasks at the same time.
A glance at your phone takes approximately two seconds and the average person's reaction time to an event is 1.8 seconds which is factored into the probability of a crash and the severity of injury from a crash. This means nearly four seconds can pass before the average 'distracted' driver can react.
If you are doing 100km/h, as we often do on our country roads, you will travel over 55 metres in those two seconds.
The penalty for using a mobile phone while driving is $344 and five demerit points.
Use a mobile phone in a school zone and the fine increases to $457 and five demerit points.
Let's all work together towards zero deaths and serious injuries on our roads.
- Article adapted for use from Towards Zero Victorian Police Campaign.
