Phone use overtakes not wearing seatbelts as cause of fatal car accidents

**JDNSW** · 14th February 2014, 05:57 AM

If looking for the principal "cause" of fatal accidents you only have to compare the proportion of over limit drivers in fatal accidents to the proportion of these in random breath test campaigns - 25-50% vs 0.1-0.5%.

Having said that, no accident has a single cause - if a drunk driver is speeding while texting on a narrow winding dirt road - what is the "cause" of the accident?

If you look for real life data (as opposed to theoretical studies), consider that over the last fifteen years, as the death and accident rate on Australian roads has steadily decreased, mobile phones have gone from rare to ubiquitous, and their use while driving has certainly increased.

Similarly, in the USA, some states have made phone use while driving illegal, some have not. If phone use were a significant factor in accidents and deaths, you would expect this to show up in statistics as a readily observable difference in the rates, or at least the trends, as the use of phones increased. It is not possible to see this difference in the figures!

The conclusion, to my mind, has to be that phone use is not a major factor, let alone "cause" of fatal accidents.

John

**weeds** · 14th February 2014, 06:07 AM

It's amazing how many drivers have their smart phone out while driving........I see sooooo many every day to and from work. I give the odd toot to the ones they are all over the place or going way slower.

Do police or insurance companies check phone records for accidents??

i used to be a little guilty of this (a quick text) until I noticed a few near misses in front or around me and figured it can wait til I get home.

**trog** · 14th February 2014, 06:42 AM

a distraction such as the slavish devotion of the gps is a bit of a concern. it is easy enough to tell when the driver ahead is focused on the screen and the verbal commands rather than the conditions that they are driving in.

**Fatso** · 14th February 2014, 07:15 AM

The course of fatal accidences in 99% of cases is the person driving the vehicle , or other vehicle .

**rb30gtr** · 14th February 2014, 07:17 AM

This topic is a great read.

One of the main reasons I stopped riding motorcycles in Sydney traffic was due to how dangerous things have gotten with drivers of recent. Most noticeably the phone usage, it is appalling.

And you get sick of tapping on windows and telling people to get off their phones, especially with the abuse they return, like it is their right to text/call and drive.

**Discomark** · 14th February 2014, 10:05 AM

Best one I saw last year was on Pennant Hills road Sydney. A bloke was shaving and using the rear view mirror as a vanity mirror as he drove along!
Traffic was slow and It was an electric shaver and not a wet one but still.

**rb30gtr** · 14th February 2014, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by Discomark

Best one I saw last year was on Pennant Hills road Sydney. A bloke was shaving and using the rear view mirror as a vanity mirror as he drove along!
Traffic was slow and It was an electric shaver and not a wet one but still.

Penno road is always a good one!

**superquag** · 14th February 2014, 10:35 AM

Originally Posted by Discomark

Best one I saw last year was on Pennant Hills road Sydney. A bloke was shaving and using the rear view mirror as a vanity mirror as he drove along!
Traffic was slow and It was an electric shaver and not a wet one but still.

I've got to put my hand up for that one, last century, when I was younger and had darker hair...
This was a feature of a letter to the Editor in the local newspaper, as the epitome of silly things to do when driving. The embarrrasing thing was, I worked at the Newspaper....

In my defense, despite only having it for 23 years, I knew exactly where my face was...and did'nt need a mirror to find it.

And yes, I never did it again after that !

**Tote** · 14th February 2014, 05:15 PM

I'm not saying that using a phone while driving is a good thing but the reactions on this thread are exactly what the road safety council need to demonise it and use it as an excuse to ratchet up fines generally. Maybe next they'll dream up some statistics that 4wds with 50mm lifts are a major contributor to the road toll....

My main grumble was that they were using some made up claims to justify their position that mobile phones were the major contributor to the road toll. If that is the case either the speeders or the drunks need a pat on the back as they must have significantly declined as the road toll has been going down.

Regards,
Tote

C00P · 19th February 2014, 10:05 PM

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Similarly, in the USA, some states have made phone use while driving illegal, some have not. If phone use were a significant factor in accidents and deaths, you would expect this to show up in statistics as a readily observable difference in the rates, or at least the trends, as the use of phones increased. It is not possible to see this difference in the figures!

The conclusion, to my mind, has to be that phone use is not a major factor, let alone "cause" of fatal accidents.

John

You have assumed that making it illegal to use the phone while driving has significantly affected the extent of phone use while driving. You would need to be able to prove that first, before drawing your conclusion.

Given the extent of mobile phone use in cars here in SA and the fact that it IS illegal, I wonder if passing the law does make much difference?
If not, then you wouldn't see much difference in the accident stats either.

Coop

Thread: Phone use overtakes not wearing seatbelts as cause of fatal car accidents

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