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Motorists who use cellphones while driving are as bad as drunk drivers, a university academic says.
Massey University educational psychologist Michael Townsend has long campaigned for a ban on using cellphones while driving.
In an observational study two years ago Professor Townsend found 4 per cent of Auckland motorists used a cellphone behind the wheel.
And the percentage would rise alongside increased cellphone use, he said.
Prof Townsend said the Government's proposed ban was long overdue.
"Motorists who use cellphones while driving make as many, if not more, driving errors as clinically drunk drivers," he said.
"International research has shown that using a cellphone when driving results in cognitive overload."
The risk of collision was four times greater when driving using a cellphone, while the risk of a fatal collision was nine times higher, he said.
"While 4 per cent might not sound sufficient to justify a ban, people can better comprehend the level of danger by imagining that one in every 25 cars coming toward them was being driven by a clinically drunk driver."
Concentrating on conversation, rather than the physical act of holding a cellphone, was what distracted drivers, Prof Townsend said.
"The nature of the conversation matters too, with deep and meaningful dialogues creating a greater distraction and added risk than small talk."
Prof Townsend said he had been won over by cellphones having refused to carry one until three months ago.
He said he could now understand the compulsion to answer a call when driving.
"A ban would act as a deterrent for many people whose inclination to use a cellphone while driving prevails over common sense and self-preservation."
Between 2002 and 2007 there were 411 injury crashes and 26 fatal crashes involving cellphones, he said.
- NZPA
