Mobile phones contributing to road safety

1 November 2013

Story from the Global Road Safety Partnership

Mobile phones are now very well established as a part of everyday life. They are also widely understood to be a source of distraction for drivers and a contributing factor to many road crashes. This subject of mobile phone distraction has been the topic for a recent study undertaken by Dr Kristie Young and colleagues from the Monash University Accident Research Centre in Melbourne, Australia.

Whilst the research confirms the theory, mobile phone manufacturers and mobile phone carrier networks are responding with smart phone applications that take away the distraction. The newly released Windows Phone 8 software, for example, offers a new 'Driving Mode' (a concept taken from Flight Mode) which will automatically silence incoming calls and texts so that one can focus on the road. It can also be configured to automatically send out a reply to say that you are driving.

Vodafone too, has both a network feature and a downloadable application version of driver mode, with the network feature capable of being configured to use the phone's GPS information to activate driver mode when the phone is moving above a certain speed.

There are many software versions and applications becoming available to remove mobile phone distractions while driving, but the responsibility still lies with each of us.