Nearly two thirds of new South African drivers admit to\u00a0texting, e-mailing and using messaging services on their mobile phones when behind the wheel of a car according to a new survey.<\/p>\n
Conducted by IPSOS on behalf of Goodyear, the survey questioned 64,000 young and novice drivers across Europe and South Africa, according to\u00a0AFP\/Relaxnews.<\/p>\n
The poll found that\u00a0newly qualified drivers in South Africa, at 65%, were the worst culprits for\u00a0texting, e-mailing and using messaging services, followed by\u00a0Turkey (56%), and Swedish respondents (55%). Conversely, at only 14% of respondents, UK drivers were the least likely to break this law.<\/p>\n
Overall, the survey found that 44% of respondents said they talk on the phone without using hands-free technology while driving. Sweden and Russia proved to have the most offenders, at 70%, while South Africa ranked third, with\u00a061%, and Turkish drivers came fourth (60%).<\/p>\n
Again, drivers in the UK (15%) were least likely to use their phones, followed by Spain (26%) and drivers in Holland (27%).<\/p>\n
Dr. Alex W Stedmon, a researcher in Human Factors at Sheffield Hallam University, said: “The distraction caused by carrying out multiple tasks while driving is known by experts as \u2018inattention blindness.’<\/p>\n
“Typically what happens is that a driver’s cognitive abilities are compromised by the amount of processing required to conduct multiple tasks. This can occur to such an extent that they then fail to observe events around them or react in normal time. The danger with this is that we are often totally unaware of the impact of attempting multiple tasks until we have a clear lapse of concentration.”<\/p>\n
SA\u2019s mobile obsession while driving<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The impossible texting and driving test<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Road Traffic calls for compulsory hands-free kits<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n