Focus on your driving, not your phone
Posted in Motoring Tips
Focus on your driving, not your phone
FOMO – the Fear of Missing Out – is putting lives at risk on our roads every day. Distraction is listed as the fourth highest contributing factor in crashes, behind speed, alcohol and fatigue. When using a mobile phone, you’re not focusing on your driving.
DON'T USE A MOBILE PHONE
More than 90 per cent of Australians use a smart phone, which enable users to do so much more than just make phone calls. Why? Perhaps it’s because the last time they did it they didn’t crash? Perhaps it’s because, as human beings, we have the tendency to assume ‘it won’t happen to me’, or maybe it’s just FOMO – Fear of Missing Out?
Whatever the reason, it’s illegal to handle a mobile phone while driving and it’s costing lives on our roads.
USING YOUR PHONE SAFELY
There are a few ways to use your phone safely in the car:
- Turn off your mobile phone before you get in your car so you won't be tempted to answer it.
- If you must have your mobile phone on, install a hands-free kit so you can legally drive and talk on your phone (for open or P2 provisional licence holders only), but don't forget to keep concentrating on driving.
- You can use a mobile phone held in your hand if you are legally parked. Parked means stopped with the intention of staying at that place.
If your mobile phone is in a mounting bracket on the windscreen, it must not obscure your view of the road.
RESTRICTIONS & PENALTIES
Learner and P1 provisional drivers under 25 must not use hands-free, wireless headsets or a mobile phone's loudspeaker function.
Learner and P1 provisional drivers' passengers are also banned from using a mobile phone's loudspeaker function.
You can be fined $1000 and have 4 demerit points recorded against your traffic history if your mobile phone is in your hand and being used for any reason while you are driving—including when you're stopped at traffic lights or in congested traffic.
Double demerit points apply for second or subsequent mobile phone offences committed within 1 year after an earlier offence.
