Drivers distracted every 96 seconds – first findings from the Australian Naturalistic Driving Study

10 October 2018

The first results from the Australian Naturalistic Driving Study (ANDS) have found that drivers are distracted for 45 per cent of the time behind the wheel.

The study has fitted a data collection system in 346 private vehicles owned by 379 drivers in Victoria and New South Wales.

Drivers were found to be distracted every 96 seconds. “That's a big figure," Monash University Accident Research Centre’s Dr Kristie Young told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Dr Young presented the results at the 2018 Australasian Road Safety Conference in Sydney.

Further information on the findings can be found in the section of media coverage below:

• Candid camera: What drivers are really doing behind the wheel (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Every 96 seconds a motorist is distracted by non-driving tasks, research finds (ABC Online)
• Aussie drivers extremely distracted behind the wheel, scientists claim (news.com.au)
• Alarming new figures on number of distracted Aussie drivers (7 News Melbourne report)
• Researchers alarmed by findings of in-car footage of distracted motorists (SBS World News report)
• Research Shows Drivers Are Distracted 45% Of The Time (The Project)
• Are you distracted by the wheel? (Interview with Prof Judith Charlton on Radio 2CC)