[AussieAV]

What annoys me most of all is the way the media just report "statistics" from any old source, giving them implied credence, without bothering to see if they have any real world relevance.

Some knob has claimed that even hands free use increases accident risk by 3.7 times. Then the media also report that 60% of drivers admit using phones whilst driving.

So if this were true (even assuming all phone use was hands free) we should have seen a 222% increase in road deaths. The reality is however that fatality rates are way below those of 25 odd years ago when everyone started getting mobiles, and in recent years, as mobile phone ownership has exploded, the road fatality rate has stayed relatively constant or even reduced slightly.

Here is the stupid thing about some of these studies. They often assign blame without really proving a causal link.

I could easily run a study showing that cars with wheels are involved in 99.9999% of fatal accidents. That doesn't make wheels the proximate cause of every accident.

Do mobile phones have the ability to distract, of course they do, but its the idiot drivers who allow themselves to be distracted in high risk situations that cause accidents.

I pick my son up from school each day. If my phone were to ring while I'm in the school zone (and it has) I don't answer it. I'm not going to let myself be even slightly distracted while I'm surrounded by hundreds of kids trying to get to their mum's or dad's car and not looking where they are going. I don't even let my son talk to me until we're well clear of the car park/pick-up area. If however it rings on the way home while I'm driving on familiar roads with moderate traffic, why wouldn't I answer it (in-car handsfree of course).

Its all about the ability to risk assess and realise how much concentration is needed in given situations. Good drivers do this without even realising it, bad ones can't even grasp the concept. The only way to truely decrease the road toll is to get the worst drivers off the road, but the government won't do this, because there will be to many of them, and how do they work/shop/survive without transport.