Also in this section

• Road Traffic Injury
• China Seatbelt Intervention
• Development, Implementation & Evaluation of an Intervention to Increase the Use of Seatbelts in Abu-Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
• Driver Distraction and Road Crashes
• The GEAR Study
• Heavy Vehicle Study
• Mobile Phone Use and Road Crashes
• Motorcycle Crashes in Sydney, Australia
• Motorcycle Helmet Use and Risk Factors for Helmet Non-use Among Motorcyclists in China
• Motorcycle Helmet Use in Vietnam: Prevalence, Barriers to Use and Policy Implications
• Novice Rider Survey
• Passenger Carriage and Road Crashes
• Policy Pathways: a stakeholder analysis of the Australian road safety research-to-policy process
• Systematic Reviews of Interventions in Motorcycle Safety
• Young Driver Cohort Study - DRIVE

Driver Distraction and Road Crashes

Aims

To examine the role of driver distraction in crashes and to investigate the use and effects of mobile phone use while driving.

Methods

Case-control study

The case-control study examined the role of driver distraction in road crashes resulting in hospital attendance. Cases were drivers who attended hospital following a crash and controls were drivers recruited from service stations matched to the crash site and time of day and day of the week as the crash, to simulate similar road and driving conditions.

Driver survey

The driver survey quantified the prevalence and effects of distracting effects while driving and the use and effects of mobile phone use while driving. A cross-sectional survey of licensed drivers aged 18 to 65 years in New South Wales and Western Australia was conducted.

Status/Results

The prevalence study has been published recently in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention. The survey results have been published in the journals, Injury Prevention and the Medical Journal of Australia and presented at the International Traffic Medicine Association's World Congress and the Australasian Road Safety Research, Policing and Education Conference in 2006. Young and inexperienced drivers are at an increased risk of crashes resulting from driver distraction.

Publications

1. McEvoy SP, Stevenson MR, Woodward M. The prevalence of, and factors associated with, serious crashes involving a distracting activity. Accid Anal Prev 2007;39:475-482. Epub 2006 Oct 9.
2. McEvoy SP, Stevenson MR, Woodward M. The impact of driver distraction on road safety: Results from a representative survey in two Australian states. Inj Prev 2006;12:242-247.
3. McEvoy SP, Stevenson MR, Woodward M. Phone use and crashes while driving: A representative survey of drivers in two Australian states. Med J Aust 2006;185:630-634.

Institute Investigators

• Mark Stevenson
• Suzanne McEvoy

Collaboration

• Injury Research Centre, School of Population Health, University of Western Australia

Funding Agencies

• Motor Accidents Authority (MAA), NSW