Mobile phones linked to 17 road fatalities

Seven fatal crashes and 84 injury smashes in the two years to the end of 2002 were "directly attributable" to drivers using mobile phones. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

Seventeen people have died in road crashes blamed on cellphones over seven years - yet the Government is delaying a decision on whether to ban drivers from using the phones.

Transport officials say the social costs of road deaths and injuries caused through drivers being distracted by their phones could reach $18 million next year - a more than fivefold rise since 1998.

A Cabinet paper obtained by the Herald under the Official Information Act included advice last April that seven fatal crashes and 84 injury smashes in the two years to the end of 2002 were "directly attributable" to drivers using mobile phones.

The figure for the previous two years, from 1999, was four fatal and 39 injury crashes.

More detailed statistics given by the Ministry of Transport last night show nine people died in phone-related crashes in 2001 and 2002.

In 2003, the number fell to three.

There have been 17 cellphone-related road fatalities since 1997, when the number of mobile phones was little more than 500,000 compared with about 2.8 million now.

Yet Cabinet ministers have decided not to include a ban on hand-held phones in new road-user rules coming into effect at the end of this week.

They called instead last year for more research to justify a ban, and told officials to consider the wider issue of driver distractions.

A ministry spokeswoman said last night that "driver distraction project work" was still being done.

The Cabinet paper, prepared by the ministry, says at least 26 countries have banned drivers using hand-held phones.

These include Australia - in some states - Britain and Japan, where a ban is reported to have reduced crashes involving mobile phones by 34 per cent.

"If this were replicated in New Zealand, there would be one less fatal crash and around 15 fewer casualty crashes a year, with a resulting social cost saving of $6 million a year," the officials said.

They said overseas research suggested that using hand-held phones while driving could quadruple the risk of accidents.

An earlier ministry paper noted a claim from British researchers in 2002 that using phones at the wheel was four times more dangerous than drink-driving.

But the ministry said this finding should be treated with caution.

Although last year's Cabinet paper warned that a ban might have less effect on behaviour in New Zealand than in Japan, the officials said it would help to raise awareness of distractions, and set a precedent for dealing with other competing demands on drivers' concentration.

But they did not make a recommendation, referring to extra enforcement costs and business compliance expenses and leaving it to the Cabinet's economic development committee to decide.

The paper estimated that about $900,000 a year would be collected from a $150 infringement fee, against a cost to businesses of up to $1.5 million to install hands-free phone kits in commercial vehicles.

It said that 75 submissions received on the issue favoured a ban and 42 were opposed.

Supporters included the Automobile Association, St John Ambulance and the police.

Opponents included Business New Zealand, the Insurance Council and the Road Transport Forum.

AA motoring policy manager Jayne Gale said yesterday that her organisation, guided by a membership survey, would prefer a ban on all phone use by drivers but would accept allowing hands-free kits.

She believed the mental distractions of holding a phone conversation while driving could be as dangerous as the physical challenge, but accepted that Auckland's congested traffic meant business would face compliance costs if all calls were banned.

Ms Gale said she suspected the Government's reluctance to ban phones stemmed from a fear of upsetting too many people in an election year.