Distraction responsible for more than half of SA road deaths
Our obsession with our mobiles is killing us, with driver distraction behind more than half the lives lost on SA roads so far this year.
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Distraction-related road deaths have spiked to record levels across South Australia, where inattention has contributed to more than half of the lives lost so far this year.
The state’s top traffic cop has declared losing focus behind the wheel a significant problem, while urging complacent motorists to take seriously the potentially devastating consequences.
Police Minister Corey Wingard says he is open to exploring further penalty increases for drivers caught using a mobile phone because of his “zero tolerance for stupidity”.
SA Police crash analysis attributes distraction to 24 of the state’s 45 road deaths (53.3 per cent) this year, compared with 193 of 451 lives lost (42.8 per cent) between 2015 and 2019.
One in three fatalities (33.6 per cent) over the past decade is directly linked to inattention.
A further 1396 road users were seriously injured from 2015 to 2019 – a figure Traffic Services Branch officer-in-charge Superintendent Bob Gray described as concerning.
“They’re not just numbers … people need to take this seriously. Distraction is killing people,” Supt Gray told The Advertiser.
“It’s the biggest driver of the fatal five and the community needs to do something about that and take responsibility for their actions.
“It’s a problem and it’s becoming a significant problem. Distraction is becoming what used to be the old drink-driving.”
Supt Gray said evidence showed the issue was not scaremongering and urged drivers to think broadly about distraction, which went beyond using a mobile phone behind the wheel.
“People quite often take for granted they get in a car and drive it. They don’t really invert their mind to the fact that driving is actually quite a complex task,” he said.
“It necessitates a huge amount of concentration and I don’t think a lot of people consider that.
“It’s automatic pilot, get behind the wheel and go. Driving safely is far more than that.”
A police road safety blitz targeting inattention behind the wheel caught 383 drivers using a mobile phone in just five days from May 4-8.
One woman was just 1km from home when she was caught checking work shift schedules to nominate herself for a shift.
Another was spotted driving while using her mobile phone along North Tce, where she stopped at traffic lights and picked up a second phone using her spare hand.
“There is never an acceptable excuse for being distracted while you’re behind the wheel,” Supt Gray said.
“If you choose to use a mobile phone … or a GPS or some device within your car to the detriment of another road user or yourself then you’re making an extremely bad decision.”
Police have fined or cautioned 6286 drivers for illegally using a mobile phone between July 1 last year and March 31 this year.
The fine for using a mobile phone while driving increased 60 per cent from $334 to $534 last July as part of the State Government’s new fees targeting law-breaking motorists.
Mr Wingard said the State Government would continue pushing its “don’t be distracted” message with more campaigns to emphasise the danger of not being focused behind the wheel.
“It frustrates me beyond belief that drivers continue to flout the law and reach for their phones while driving. It’s dangerous and potentially deadly behaviour,” Mr Wingard said.
“We’ve toughened penalties for this type of offending already but I’m always open to exploring further action because I have zero tolerance for stupidity.
“Be warned – police are out there and they will catch you if you are using your mobile phone while driving.”
RAA safety and infrastructure senior manager Charles Mountain said the spike in distracted related road deaths was disturbing.
“The effect of distraction is well documented and further highlights the importance of educating people about the consequences of what happens if you’re distracted,” he said.
“Even if it appears to be a relatively short space of time the likelihood and severity of the resulting crash significantly increases.”
Mr Mountain said braking incorporated a reaction distance in addition to a braking distance and that braking distances tended to increase in winter during adverse weather conditions.
“Any reason our attention is diverted, whether it be to a phone or any other forms of distraction inside or outside the vehicle … that reaction distance dramatically increases and as a consequence it means the likelihood of a crash also significantly increases,” he said.
“When you are travelling at 60km/h every second you travel nearly 17m so if you are not looking at the road during that period you have travelled that distance blind and that’s the equivalent to over three vehicle lengths.
“Once you go faster that distance dramatically increases so by 100km/h you’re looking at nearly 28m and a lot can happen in that 28m.”
