While two-thirds of the driving population agree that using a mobile phone when driving is dangerous, statistics show many still do it. National Driving Academy strongly encourages all drivers to cease to use their phones while driving. The risks are significant as the following statistics show.
From July 2010 to June 2011, 52,680 fines were issued to drivers in NSW for using hand-held mobile phones.Data from 2006 to 2010 indicates that there were 157 crashes where hand-held mobile phone use by drivers was identified as a contributing factor. The figures included:
- 44 fatal crashes
- 66 injury crashes
- 87 tow-away crashes
While crash risks are well documented, the crash numbers are under-reported because of the difficulty of establishing evidence of illegal mobile phone use at crash scenes, suggesting that the size of the problem could be greater than thought.
Source: http://roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au/campaigns/getyourhandoffit.html