Texting while driving the latest risk on road
Forget the hoon. Instead, watch out for the young driver madly sending a text message from a mobile phone.
Research to be released today shows 58 per cent of motorists aged 17 to 29 would read a text message, or SMS, while driving.
One-third of drivers under 30 felt they could safely take their eyes off the road to send a text message or talk on the phone.
And if they couldn't manage to send the message while driving, traffic lights provided the perfect texting opportunity for more than 30 per cent of young drivers, the research found.
Telstra surveyed 750 mobile phone users from metropolitan and country areas of NSW, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.
Men were the worst offenders, with more males than females making and answering calls while driving. Five per cent of males even agreed that chatting on a hand-held phone affected their driving.
But it wasn't just younger drivers who couldn't resist the temptation of a ringing phone.
Across all age groups, one in three motorists admitted to making calls from their mobile at least once a week, and more than half said they answered the phone in the car.
A Telstra spokeswoman, Jenny Young, said the survey showed that for some young motorists a mobile phone was more important than safe driving.
"A disproportionate number of younger drivers ignore their better judgement, and the law, and SMS while driving, despite knowing they risk the safety of themselves and others," she said. "Even a quick conversation on a mobile can have tragic consequences."
A 24-year-old Melbourne driver was given a two-year suspended sentence last year after she admitted killing a cyclist when she took her eyes off the road to send a text message.
The University of Sydney's George Institute and the University of Western Australia are conducting three of the world's largest surveys on driver distractions and the use of mobile phones.
The survey data is still to be collected and collated but it would reveal the extent of what appeared to be a dangerous trend, said Suzanne McEvoy, an expert in injury prevention and trauma care at the George Institute.
"The evidence to date suggests that even using a hands-free may not be safe," Dr McEvoy said.
There had been little research on the dangers of texting while driving because SMS was relatively new, she said.
A motorist caught talking or texting on a mobile phone while driving faces the loss of three demerit points and a $226 fine.