Explainer: what can be done to tackle driver distraction?

Speaking at one of her last public events as chair of the Road Safety Authority (RSA), Liz O’Donnell said “we should be moving towards a stigmatising” of the use of mobile phones while driving rather than “accepting it or normalising it”.

“It’s a huge road safety challenge,” she told those gathered at the authority’s annual conference at Dublin Castle on Wednesday.

The theme of this year’s conference was driver distraction, with O’Donnell adding that research conducted last year showed 40 per cent of drivers under 35 admitted to checking apps on their phones “at least sometimes while driving”.

A study commissioned by the RSA also found that 9 per cent of drivers observed on Irish roads were using a mobile phone, up from 6 per cent the previous year.

O’Donnell says a driver has four times more chance of crashing if they are using a mobile phone, according to Irish and international research.

“That makes sense,” she says. “If you’re distracted, your response time is much slower.”

But what can be done to tackle the scourge of “distracted driving” or “inattentive driving”, as it has been termed? While experts in the field also point to other distractions, such as large advertising billboards and passengers in the vehicle, mobile phone usage remains the most problematic.

Dr Kiran Sarma from the University of Galway, who conducted research in the area for the RSA, says drivers who had admitted to using phones said more gardaí on the roads using technology for enforcement would reduce usage, as would higher penalties for those caught.

As it stands, it is an offence to hold a mobile phone in your hand or support it with another part of your body when driving. The offence carries a fixed charge notice of €120.

[ No, using your phone while driving is not the same as chatting to a passengerOpens in new window ]

Kees Verweij of the Netherlands police force told delegates at the conference how the fine for phone usage while driving had been raised to €429 there. He said the Dutch authorities had introduced cameras on motorways in recent years to tackle drivers using mobile phones. There have been 34,000 fines issued to drivers caught using mobile phones by the cameras, 24 of which are currently in place.

Prof John Lee, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said while there was no “silver bullet” to eradicating driver distraction, there were device settings on phones that could guide behaviour. For example, on the iPhone, a person can put their settings to ‘Driver’ mode, with text messages and other notifications silenced or limited, and incoming calls only allowed when a phone is connected to a hands-free accessory.

O’Donnell said there needs to be more done in the area of education and awareness campaigns and that cameras to detect mobile phone usage would require updated or new legislation.

Concluding the conference, Minister of State for Transport James Lawless said he wanted to see how technology could be embraced “for the better” to tackle driver distraction.

“The challenge for us now is that activity has moved to our dashboard,” he added. “You may not have to hold the phone but you can still be YouTubing your way along or participating in a group discussion or chat or flicking through your podcasts without ever touching your phone, because now it’s on your screen and your infotainment model in front of you.

“That’s a challenge and I think that we as legislators, as policymakers, have to keep up with that as well.”