South Africans are being urged to to change their attitudes behind the wheel and not allow themselves to become distracted while driving, particularly through texting.
"It is not possible at present to establish how many motor vehicle crashes in South Africa may be related to distracted driving, which includes using a mobile phone or other technologies while on the road. However, most authorities would agree that it is becoming a leading cause of road accidents in this country. We certainly have many patients who are admitted to Netcare's emergency departments who report that their vehicle accidents were related to one or other form of diversion while they were at the wheel," Netcare said in a statement.
In fact, a recent driving behaviour research study conducted by driving analytics company Zendrive found the following:
- At any given hour, 40 percent of motorists use their phones at least once.
- Overall, motorists use their phones for an average of 1 minute, 52 seconds for every hour behind the wheel.
- Motorists use their phones on 88 out of 100 trips.
- Taking your eyes off the road increases your chances of collision more than 20 times.
"You may think you can quickly glance down at your phone and type a quick reply, but at a speed of just 86km/h, you're covering 24 metres every second. If you take five seconds to read a message and five seconds to reply, you've covered more than twice the length of a rugby field without focusing on the road. Take the quoted 1 minute, 52 seconds motorists spend using their phones behind the wheel, and you've spent nearly 3km on the road, distracted," said Warwick Scott-Rodger, executive head of Dialdirect.
While there are many different distractions that constitute distracted driving, the Automobile Association highlights the following as the most prevalent:
1. Talking on cellphones, or texting while driving;
2. Eating while driving;
3. Putting on ties or other clothing while driving, or changing clothes when driving;
4. Applying make-up while driving;
5. Looking to the backseat to engage passengers, especially children,
6. Setting GPS devices while moving,
7. Searching for items in various areas of the car while driving.
Dialdirect offers the following tips to avoid being distracted behind the wheel:
- Don't overestimate your own luck or abilities just because you've called and texted without incident before. According to an article by Time, drivers ignore the warnings because, wrongfully, "they're just not convinced that it's all that dangerous". The one time you do get it wrong could cost someone their life, which could see you spending most of yours behind bars.
- Never text and drive or browse the web and social media behind the wheel. If you absolutely have to, pull over in a safe spot to do so, or use an app that allows you to dictate what you need to type.
- For phone calls, invest in a hands-free device that can be engaged without major distraction.
- Install an app that blocks you from texting or taking calls whilst driving, place your phone out of reach or activate flight mode.
- If you use a GPS, then follow the voice-activated directions.
"It's time that we ask ourselves if that quick call, reply or update is worth our own or someone else's life. It's time to realise that distracted driving really is that dangerous, and that we need to make drastic changes," Scott-Rodger concluded.