In the City of Sydney there has been an increase in lane deviation accidents over the last four years. This has occurred as we have seen a reduction in overall accidents and an increase in ownership of mobile phones. Research indicates lane deviation accidents have been directly related to a driver engaging in a distracting behaviour. Many studies have been conducted that show distractions such as making a phone call, conducting a mobile phone conversation, conducting a complex conversation and tuning a radio/ changing a CD all lead to a significant increase in the number of situations in which the person failed to respond appropriately in the road environment in a timely manner. It is possible there is a lack of awareness among the community of the research literature linking driver distraction with degraded driving performance and the types of distracting behaviour that can impact on driving performance and driver safety. This paper focuses on the research results obtained from drivers in two central Sydney communities on their attitudes, awareness and knowledge about driver distractions. (a) For the covering record of the conference, please refer to ITRD abstract no E216954.
Samenvatting