QUOTE
Originally Posted by The Age, 7/6/6
Keep your eyes on the road
KEN THOMAS, Associated Press and Joshua Dowling
June 2, 2006
US study finds that inattention and distraction are the cause of most accidents, writes KEN THOMAS.
As speed and speed enforcement dominate headlines in Australia, a study by United States authorities has found driver inattention is the prime cause of car crashes.
Four out of five crashes involve drivers who are drowsy, chatting on a mobile phone, applying make-up or otherwise distracted from the road ahead.
US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration researchers videotaped people behind the wheel and after reviewing thousands of hours of footage and data from monitors linked to more than 200 drivers, they found that a wide range of distractions can lead to crashes or near-crashes.
Reaching for a moving object while driving increased the risk of a crash by nine times, while reading or applying make-up behind the wheel enhanced the risk by three times. Dialing a mobile phone, meanwhile, increased the risk of a crash by nearly three times, the researchers found.
"[The study] illustrates the potentially dire consequences that can occur while driving distracted or drowsy. It's crucial that drivers always be alert when on the road," says Jacqueline Glassman, acting administrator of the NHTSA.
For more than a year, researchers with the NHTSA and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute studied the behaviour of the drivers of 100 vehicles in northern Virginia and metropolitan Washington, D.C., equipped with video and sensors. They tracked 241 drivers, who were involved in 82 crashes of various degrees of seriousness - 15 were reported to police - and 761 near-crashes.
Called the 100-Car Study, the huge research project analysed 3.2 million kilometres driven and more than 43,300 hours of data.
"The huge database developed through this breakthrough study is enormously valuable in helping us to understand - and prevent - motor vehicle crashes," says Dr Tom Dingus, the institute's director.
Drowsy driving increased the driver's risk of a crash or near-crash by four to six times, the study found. But the study's authors says drowsy driving is frequently under-reported in police crash investigations.
When drivers took long glances away from the road ahead of them at the wrong moment, they were twice as likely to get into a crash, the report says.
Assessing mobile phone use, the researchers say the number of crashes or near-crashes linked to dialing them was nearly identical to the number tied to talking or listening on the phone.
In the US, mobile phone use in vehicles and the larger issue of distracted driving has generated considerable attention in recent years, with a number of states prohibiting talking on hand-held mobile phones while driving.
A government report last year found that about 10 per cent of drivers are using mobile phones.
But the mobile phone industry and others say distraction takes many forms, with lots of drivers eating fast food, leafing through the morning newspaper or inserting CDs into their stereo system.
Locally, the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority has created a television and billboard advertising campaign designed to draw attention to fatigue and, in particular, "micro-sleeps".
The ads, which feature Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, have been run intermittently over the past two years but RTA ads relating to speed appear more often.
Given the findings of the US study, the National Motorists Association of Australia says the RTA and other local authorities need to bring more attention to the other possible causes of a crash.
"You can abide by the speed limit and still be a bad driver," says NMAA spokesman Michael Lane. "After years of encouraging people to focus on their speed, we need to get them to lift their eyes and take a good look at the traffic and conditions around them.
"All accidents happen on the road and that's where your eyes should be. The other downside of the focus on low speed limits is drivers tend to get bored and the mind wanders."
Keep your eyes on the road
KEN THOMAS, Associated Press and Joshua Dowling
June 2, 2006
US study finds that inattention and distraction are the cause of most accidents, writes KEN THOMAS.
As speed and speed enforcement dominate headlines in Australia, a study by United States authorities has found driver inattention is the prime cause of car crashes.
Four out of five crashes involve drivers who are drowsy, chatting on a mobile phone, applying make-up or otherwise distracted from the road ahead.
US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration researchers videotaped people behind the wheel and after reviewing thousands of hours of footage and data from monitors linked to more than 200 drivers, they found that a wide range of distractions can lead to crashes or near-crashes.
Reaching for a moving object while driving increased the risk of a crash by nine times, while reading or applying make-up behind the wheel enhanced the risk by three times. Dialing a mobile phone, meanwhile, increased the risk of a crash by nearly three times, the researchers found.
"[The study] illustrates the potentially dire consequences that can occur while driving distracted or drowsy. It's crucial that drivers always be alert when on the road," says Jacqueline Glassman, acting administrator of the NHTSA.
For more than a year, researchers with the NHTSA and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute studied the behaviour of the drivers of 100 vehicles in northern Virginia and metropolitan Washington, D.C., equipped with video and sensors. They tracked 241 drivers, who were involved in 82 crashes of various degrees of seriousness - 15 were reported to police - and 761 near-crashes.
Called the 100-Car Study, the huge research project analysed 3.2 million kilometres driven and more than 43,300 hours of data.
"The huge database developed through this breakthrough study is enormously valuable in helping us to understand - and prevent - motor vehicle crashes," says Dr Tom Dingus, the institute's director.
Drowsy driving increased the driver's risk of a crash or near-crash by four to six times, the study found. But the study's authors says drowsy driving is frequently under-reported in police crash investigations.
When drivers took long glances away from the road ahead of them at the wrong moment, they were twice as likely to get into a crash, the report says.
Assessing mobile phone use, the researchers say the number of crashes or near-crashes linked to dialing them was nearly identical to the number tied to talking or listening on the phone.
In the US, mobile phone use in vehicles and the larger issue of distracted driving has generated considerable attention in recent years, with a number of states prohibiting talking on hand-held mobile phones while driving.
A government report last year found that about 10 per cent of drivers are using mobile phones.
But the mobile phone industry and others say distraction takes many forms, with lots of drivers eating fast food, leafing through the morning newspaper or inserting CDs into their stereo system.
Locally, the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority has created a television and billboard advertising campaign designed to draw attention to fatigue and, in particular, "micro-sleeps".
The ads, which feature Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, have been run intermittently over the past two years but RTA ads relating to speed appear more often.
Given the findings of the US study, the National Motorists Association of Australia says the RTA and other local authorities need to bring more attention to the other possible causes of a crash.
"You can abide by the speed limit and still be a bad driver," says NMAA spokesman Michael Lane. "After years of encouraging people to focus on their speed, we need to get them to lift their eyes and take a good look at the traffic and conditions around them.
"All accidents happen on the road and that's where your eyes should be. The other downside of the focus on low speed limits is drivers tend to get bored and the mind wanders."
