By: Natasha Archary
Cellphone distractions now top the list of risky driving behaviours in South Africa, and is ranked as one of the Top 3 main causes of road accidents.
New reseach from Discovery Insure reveals in-depth data on the factors influencing vehicle accident risks.
While environmental factors like road conditions, and vehicle factors contribute to road fatalities, human factors like driver behaviur play the biggest role.
Notably, the data revealed that cellphone distractions are the biggest contributor to road accidents in the country.
The findings were presented at the UN Launch event of the UN Global Campaign for Road Safety in partnership with JCDecaux, as part of the UN efforts to raise public awareness of life-saving initiatives on the road.
According to the research, over 60% of motor vehicle fatalities are influenced by these 5 behaviours:
- Drinking and driving
- Cellphone usage while driving
- Excessive speeding
- Aggressive driving
- Lack of vehicle care
The 3 main causes of accidents are:
- Distracted driving
- Loss of vehicle control
- Reduction in vehicle safety
Cellphone usage whilst driving has become worse than speeding, and a mere 20 seconds on the phone in each trip increases accident risk by over 60%.
There is a shift in increased distracted driving accidents and less night-time accidents.
Data also showed that driving at night significantly increases the risk that an accident is fatal as night-time accidents happening between 22h00 and 04h00 are 9 times more severe than daytime accidents.
In addition, there has been a shift in driving behaviour with an increase in accidents relating to cellphone usage, while night-time accidents have reduced.
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