IT takes a few seconds of a motorist’s distraction to completely change the lives of road users and pedestrians.
Every day motorists are unaware of the danger they put themselves and others in when they respond to a text or answer a call while driving.
The small dictraction has a major impact on a person’s concentration. According to road safety awareness site, Arrive Alive, the use of cognitive functions which involve thinking, concentration and reason on other focus areas such as phones calls, diminishes the ability to focus on the task of driving.
Paramedics attend accidents daily but they sayid it is very rare for those involved to admit they were on their cellphones before crashing. “A lot can happen once you get distracted from driving, your eyes are taken off the road, which causes you to veer off the road,” one said.
Advocate Johan Jonck from Arrive Alive agrees with this. “Statistics are difficult to come by as people tend not to admit to having been on their phone prior to a crash, knowing very well the consequences they can face,” he said.
“There is growing concern of the dangers posed by motorists using their cellular phones while driving. An international survey amongst 837 drivers with cell phones found almost half had swerved or drifted into another lane, 23% had tailgated, 21% cut someone off and 18$ nearly hit another vehicle while using the phone,” added Adv Jonk.
The Road Traffic Act section 1(a) of regulation 308A states that: “No person shall drive a vehicle on a public road, while holding a cellular or moble telephone or any other communication device in one or both hands or with any part of their body.”
How using a phone or technology while driving can be distracting and dangerous (according to Arrive Alive):
- A driver may be charged if erratic driving or a collision results from inattention, regardless of what else may be going on.
- The risks posed by the cellular phones emanate from the distraction of thinking about the conversation, not only the distraction of physically handling or looking at the device.
- Unlike CD players or other distractions such as eating or drinking, communications technologies require a driver to cognitively interact with the device, often for long periods of time. The use of cognitive functions can diminish the ability to focus on the task of driving.
- Research suggests that stressful, emotional or important conversations are even more distracting to the driver.
- Phones are much more sophisticated than they were a decade ago. Modern mobile phones can take, send and receive pictures. They allow users to surf the web, check stock quotes and sports scores, play video games and perform a variety of additional functions beyond conversation.
Important tips that can save lives:
- When the phone rings, let it ring. It’s better to use your phone’s voicemail or even miss a call than to put yourself, your passengers or others at risk.
- Use hands free microphones or bluetooth hands-free devices.
- If you have to make a call on a hands-free cellular phone – ask a passenger to dial or answer the phone for you.
- If you expect such a call to last longer than a few seconds – be on the lookout for a suitable spot to pull over.
- Never take notes or jot down numbers while driving.
- When in heavy traffic, rather tell the person you will call back when it is safer to do so.
- Do not allow technology to divert your concentration. Inserting a CD or searching for a radio station makes poses a much greater risk than glancing at the fuel gauge or speedometer.
For more information on road safety visit www.arrivealive.co.za.
