- Distractions include more than just mobile phones, GPS devices, passengers or eating can also stop you from focusing on the road
- Distractions can be physical (e.g., handling a phone instead of controlling the vehicle), visual (e.g., looking somewhere other than the road) and/or cognitive (e.g., thinking about something other than driving). All forms of distraction are dangerous and can increase the risk of a serious crash.
- When driving at 50 km/h, a driver who takes their eyes off the road for just 2 seconds will travel 28 metres ‘blind’, that’s about the length of a cricket pitch.
Why distractions are dangerous
Driving distracted can:
- reduce your reaction time
- make it hard to maintain a consistent speed, leading to slowing down or speeding up at inappropriate times
- lead to you drifting from your lane or onto the shoulder of the road
- mean you miss traffic light changes, either sitting at lights once they are green or driving through as they change to red
- cause you to miss seeing pedestrians, people on bicycles or those on motorcycles
- result in you not seeing traffic slowing in front of you which increases the risk of nose to tail crashes.