THE proliferation of mobile phone use in recent years has, unfortunately, been parallel to an increase in the number of crashes on Victoria’s roads.
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It seems many motorists have adopted a devil-may-care attitude. These motorists think they either won’t get caught illegally using their mobile phone while driving, or their mobile phone use behind the wheel will not result in a crash.
They would be wrong on both counts.
Research tells us being distracted by a mobile phone while driving means a person’s response time in a dangerous situation would be equivalent to driving with a blood alcohol reading of .05 or more.
New figures show almost 113,000 fines have been issued to motorists for driving while illegally using a mobile phone in Victoria in the past three years. So, you will get caught.
The state’s top traffic policemen, Assistant Commissioner Doug Fryer, agrees the increase in fines only goes to prove a sometimes fatal problem in the community.
Mr Fryer’s stern warning should come as a reality check for all drivers, in that he says society's "thirst for connectivity is killing people”.
His warning comes ahead of Fatality Free Friday – the nation’s largest community road safety initiative.
The Australian Road Safety Foundation advocates that road users have a vital role in stemming the road toll, which last year claimed 291 Victorian lives.
The confronting research results from the road safety foundation shows that in Victoria, one in five people narrowly avoid a car crash at least once a month; 51 per cent of drivers do not ask speeding friends or family members to slow down; 52 per cent of people riding with a texting taxi or professional driver will not ask them to put their phone away; and nearly one third of people have let a loved one drive even though they suspected them to be over the BAC limit.
“Unless you are totally focused on driving, you're not in a position to respond when something unexpected happens. If you look down at your phone for two seconds while driving at 100km/h, you will travel more than 55 meters blind,” TAC chief executive officer Joe Calafiore said.
What is so important in a text message or a social media post that couldn’t wait until you either reach your destination or pull over to the side of the road before you look at your mobile phone?