Monday, April 22, 2013

Safety Expert Slams ‘Distraction Industry’

Electronic distractions are becoming a major road safety hazard, says the car review website dogandlemon.com.

Dogandlemon.com editor Clive Matthew-Wilson, who is an active road safety campaigner, says:

“There is now a global, multi-billion dollar industry selling electronic devices that distract the user. Globally, these devices are causing thousands of serious road accidents every day.”

A recent study showed that, at any given time on any given day, 660,000 Americans are using cellphones or other electronic devices while driving.

It’s not just drivers who are at risk. People texting on cellphones as they cross roads are four times more likely to ignore oncoming traffic and disobey the lights, according to another study.

Matthew-Wilson is also frightened by the number of road users wearing headphones.

“A recent study showed that the number of pedestrians suffering serious injury while wearing headphones tripled between 2004 and 2012.”

“Users of portable music players, such as the iPod, frequently go into a trance-like state that can easily end in tragedy. Drivers wearing headphones frequently miss what’s going on around them, including pedestrians, red lights, stop signs and even police sirens.”

Matthew-Wilson says that trying to educate road users about the dangers of electronic distraction is probably a waste of time.

“There is little evidence that people change their behaviour as a result of road safety ad campaigns.”

Instead, Matthew-Wilson believes that all road users, including pedestrians, should be banned from using headphones and cellphones, including hands-free cellphones.

“Anywhere there are vehicles and people, talking or texting on a cellphone is dangerous. Hands-free cellphones are just as dangerous as cellphones held up to your ear.”

However, Matthew-Wilson says, ticketing offenders is mostly a waste of time.

“Despite all the traffic fines, cellphone use while driving is one of the most common offences in the world.”

“Multiple studies have shown that fines are largely ineffective against the two highest risk groups of road users – teenagers and poor people.”

Instead, Matthew-Wilson believes offenders should be warned for the first offence, and for the second offence they should have their electronic device confiscated.

“That’s sounds harsh, but it would work. You can’t be distracted by an electronic device if a policeman has just confiscated it.”

“The alternative is a lot of dead bodies.”

ENDS

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