{"id":538457,"date":"2026-03-13T20:15:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T20:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/538457\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T20:15:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T20:15:18","slug":"researchers-call-for-more-awareness-about-the-dangers-of-distracted-driving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/538457\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers call for more awareness about the dangers of distracted driving"},"content":{"rendered":"

Activities like eating or drinking behind the wheel are the most dangerous distractions for drivers, a new study has found.<\/p>\n

University of Canberra (UC) researchers used a driving simulator to study a range of different driver distractions \u2014 visual, cognitive, behavioural\/manual and auditory.<\/p>\n

The 103 participants aged between 16 and 82 were distracted in various ways to analyse the impact in all four areas.<\/p>\n

Participants received mobile phone calls, were engaged in conversation, and were asked to look at text messages and move cups, among other activities.<\/p>\n

Noise distractions critical<\/p>\n

The dangers of driving while using a mobile phone have been highlighted by recent safety campaigns and the introduction of mobile phone detection cameras on Australian roads.<\/a><\/p>\n

But the researchers wanted to examine distractions beyond mobile phone use.<\/p>\n

Ram Subramanian, an associate professor with the UC’s Centre for Intelligent Computing and Systems, said about 16 per cent of major road accidents were caused by driver distraction.<\/p>\n

Dr Subramanian and his colleagues wanted to find out what was distracting drivers the most inside their vehicles and what caused the most dangerous driving.<\/p>\n

The study, published in the Journal of Safety Research<\/a>, found behavioural and manual distractions \u2014 like eating and drinking and using a mobile phone \u2014 “exerted the most detrimental impact on driving performance, significantly impairing drivers’ attention and ability to respond to roadway demands”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ram Subramanian says there needs to be more awareness of the impact of distracted driving. (Supplied: University of Canberra)<\/p>\n

Dr Subramanian said auditory distractions, such as reacting to a crying baby or talking to passengers, were also highly disruptive to safe driving.<\/p>\n

“The auditory distractions that were caused by sudden noise in the car from fellow passengers \u2026 were found to be quite critical,” he said.<\/p>\n

The authors have called for more driver education from authorities on the dangers of distracted driving<\/a> \u2014particularly behavioural and auditory distractions.<\/p>\n

Long-term consequences<\/p>\n

Robert Pike was 17 when the car he was travelling in hit a tree, killing three of his friends.<\/p>\n

The only survivor, he was critically injured and lost both legs below the knee.<\/p>\n

“In that moment, all our lives, all the parents’ lives changed,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Rob Pike shares his story as a way to promote greater understanding of the dangers of getting behind the wheel. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Mr Pike has since become a road safety advocate, sharing his story to help future generations.<\/p>\n

He believes driver distraction played a role in the crash.<\/p>\n

“I know that we were listening to the radio,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We were kind of just mucking around. I was kind of making jokes and things like that in the car, things that we’d done many times before.<\/p>\n

“In hindsight, I knew that our behaviour was dangerous, but unfortunately it felt safe in the moment to do it.<\/p>\n

“I think you have a false sense of security \u2026 young men thinking that they’re invincible.”<\/p>\n

Young driver warning<\/p>\n

Mr Pike said he felt intense survivor’s guilt in the aftermath of the crash, and wanted young drivers to think carefully before they got behind the wheel.<\/p>\n

“Be intentional about what you’re actually in the car to do and be aware of the dangers,” he said.<\/p>\n

“If at any moment you feel like you’re actually making a dangerous decision or that you’re in danger, change those decisions and hopefully it’ll impact your future.”<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The study found mobile phone use was just one of many distractions contributing to poor driving. (ABC News: Jake Sturmer)<\/p>\n

Mr Subramanian said it was important to develop good driving habits early.<\/p>\n

“Young drivers are at a greater risk of distraction-related accidents simply because \u2026 that’s the kind of age where you tend to be more risk-taking,” he said.<\/p>\n

“You don’t really realise what are the risks associated with your driving behaviour. You might think that you’re driving very judiciously but that might not be the case in actuality.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Activities like eating or drinking behind the wheel are the most dangerous distractions for drivers, a new study…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,42840,179039,266935,23817,266936,10470,3977,204326,266937,266934],"class_list":["post-538457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-car-crash","tag-distraction","tag-driver-distraction","tag-driving","tag-driving-while-texting","tag-fatal-crash","tag-mobile-phones","tag-rob-pike","tag-teenage-drivers","tag-university-of-canberra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}