However, the National Transport Commission is currently drafting new laws to stop drivers from being distracted by their phones, children and pets.
Under the new proposed laws, drivers who look away from the road for more than two seconds could be subject to a fine, and that includes looking away to discipline a child, soothe an animal or use a phone.
However, there is one bright side to these new proposed changes. Drivers would be legally allowed to use voice-controlled features of their phone, and navigation software while driving. Current legislation prohibits this.
“Innovation has made it difficult to differentiate between functions that could distract drivers and functions that may improve safety outcomes,” says Charles Mountain.
The current archaic road rules were drafted back in 1999, when smart phones were nothing more than a faraway idea, and as such fall far behind the current abilities of smart phone technology – such as navigation software. As such, the proposed laws aim to address the increasing use of technology while behind the wheel.
“Innovation has made it difficult to differentiate between functions that could distract drivers and functions that may improve safety outcomes,” says Royal Automobile Association of South Australia spokesman Charles Mountain. “Existing legislation is not effective for emerging technology like smartphones.”
We’ll add this new information to the list of other unknown road rules, such as not being allowed to pay for your Macca’s drive through with a phone.
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