ROAD SAFETY

Mrs GERAGHTY (Torrens) (14:29): My question is to the—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Just a moment. The Minister for Mineral Resources will stop talking across the chamber, thank you.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: And the member for Norwood will stop responding to him.

Mrs GERAGHTY: Can the Minister for Road Safety give the house details about the Motor Accident Commission's new campaign to discourage the use of mobile phones whilst driving?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:29): I thank the member for Torrens for her question. The dangers of taking your eyes off the road while driving are startling. At 60 km/h a vehicle travels over 16 metres per second. If a driver takes their eyes off the road for just three seconds to look at their mobile phone, they will have travelled almost 50 metres without seeing what is in front of them. That is enough time to miss an intersection or hit someone who has stepped onto the road, and that is the very—

Mr Williams: That's why it's illegal.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: That's right. That's right; this may be news to the member opposite, but something like 45 per cent of road—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: —crash injuries and 30 per cent of fatalities are as a result of inattention while driving. So, that is the very strong focus—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: That is the very strong focus of the new television adverts produced by the Motor—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Point of order, Madam Speaker. It is impossible for the minister to answer the question with the level of interjections that are continuing from across the way.

The SPEAKER: It certainly is; the members on my left will behave or more will leave. Minister.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Inane interjections—it just shows how much interest they have in road safety and saving lives on our roads.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: The very strong focus—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Minister, back to the substance of the question.

Mr WILLIAMS: Madam Speaker, the opposition is quite happy to give leave for her to table her written answer.

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister, please continue.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Thank you, Madam Speaker. The strong focus of these adverts produced by the Motor Accident Commission is around inattention and using a mobile telephone. They commenced airing this week on our television sets. Humour is being used effectively to show drivers just how dangerous it is to let a mobile phone distract you while you are at the wheel.

The realities of this dangerous act are frightening, with research showing the use of mobile phones whilst driving increases the risk of being involved in a crash by up to four times, with inattention, as I said, being the primary cause of 45 per cent of road crash injuries, and nearly 30 per cent of deaths on our roads. Today, those risks are greater than ever before, with mobile phones effectively becoming mini computers that we rely on more than ever in our daily lives.

Inattention is most prevalent in rear-end crashes, making up approximately 25 per cent of compulsory third-party insurance costs and totalling approximately $85 million each year. The simple fact is that inattention by some costs every driver on our roads.

Both marked and unmarked police vehicles will also be used to target the use of mobile phones whilst driving, as part of Operation Distraction, and this is just another part of our efforts to change dangerous driver behaviour on our roads, and that is along with the change to the speeding penalties which came into effect on 1 September. These changes reduce the lowest fine by $110 but we doubled the demerit points in the lowest category. We will ensure that we get speeding drivers who put themselves and others at risk off our roads sooner.

Get caught using a mobile phone while behind the wheel and you will receive a $291 fine. It is vital that we stay vigilant when driving a motor vehicle, and I implore all South Australian drivers to turn their mobile phones off, take some time out, don't be distracted and get to their destinations safely.