Professor Regan says modern in-car technology can contribute to the problem. We need to explain how dangerous it is to have access to a mobile phone while you are driving." "Education for new drivers, our youngest drivers, needs to understand that until now mobile phones have been with them everywhere, all the time. "Teenagers are cued to look at their phone if they hear a text come through, or there is a phone call or a missed call.
CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER 01/02 CRASH DUMP DRIVERS
"We know young drivers have grown up in a generation with a mobile phone as a normal part of their day," she told 7.30.
CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER 01/02 CRASH DUMP DRIVER
Psychologist and safety researcher Dr Bridie Scott-Parker from the University of the Sunshine Coast is passionate about educating young drivers about driver distraction, especially given their connection to their mobile phones. Police photograph driver using a mobile phone. "It's an underestimate, because when you look at studies where drivers are observed for weeks or months or even years, like they have in the US recently, they found that 68 per cent of the crashes had distraction as a contributing factor," he told said. Road safety researcher Professor Michael Regan, from the Australian Road Research Board, said the real numbers in Australia are much higher than official figures indicate.
If people could just realise how dangerous it is and what the results could be," Ms Meiklejohn said. The family's pain was only made worse when they discovered that the other driver had been using his phone at the time of the accident.
Audrey Dow (l) with her daughter, Angela Mieklejohn.