MEDIA RELEASE

14 August 2009

Trafinz supports the Minister’s banning of handheld mobile phone use in cars

TRAFINZ, the New Zealand Traffic Institute, supports the Ministers proposal to ban using hand held cellphones while driving.

TRAFINZ President, Cr Andy Foster, says that the ban is common sense and completely logical. “Research shows that human beings are not capable of this level of multi-tasking. Driving safely requires drivers to be alert, and aware of the constantly changing, dynamic environment around them. Using a hand held cellphone or texting while driving is incompatible with the complex task of driving safely. While some argue that there are other significant distractions, let’s address this issue now. There is no doubt from crash data that hand held cellphones are contributing significantly to death and injury on our roads.”

Banning hand held cellphones is an important step towards a community owned road safety culture and achieving our road safety vision, but it is just one part of a large range of interventions that will need to be taken to reduce death and injury on our roads.

“Researchers tells us that a key reason a cellphone conversation is dangerous is that in a face to face conversation the person in the car can also sees the risks around you and can pause the conversation, whereas a person on a cellphone cannot.” It is really that simple, says Cr Foster

“TRAFINZ is looking forward to next week’s release of the 2020 road safety strategy. We are going to miss the 2010 strategy goal of no more than 300 road deaths a year by 2010, and miss it by a depressingly wide margin. As at August 12th 256 people had died on our roads this calendar year, up from 231 last year. With the worst months still to come we are looking at around 430 deaths this year. This is a long way away from where we planned to be in 2010.”

“It will take political courage to make the critical moves needed to reduce the road toll. TRAFINZ welcomes the proposed cellphone ban as a small but significant step in the right direction, and it will bring New Zealand into line with world leading successful road safety nations.

“The Police know the added risk because they see the results when they attend crashes.”

“TRAFINZ encourages drivers to turn off cellphones when getting in the car, just as we do when going into meetings or the cinema.”

“We also encourage employers to create a ‘No hand held mobile phone use in company vehicles’ policy for the safety of all staff and other road users.”

ENDS

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