Background

Use of cell phones in moving vehicles can be classed as driver distraction. Redelmeier and Tibshirani (1997) found that:

• Cell phone users were four to five times more likely to have crashes than non-users; and
• Cell phone units that allow hands to be free offer no safety advantage over hand-held units.

They found that the main factor in most motor vehicle crashes is driver inattentiveness.

Background: 

New Zealand has a form of compulsory insurance for personal injury from road crashes. This is administered by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) and financed through a levy taken with the annual vehicle licence fee and a levy per litre of petrol. 

Background:

New Zealand has the 6^th cheapest fuel of the 30 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries (see Figure 1). New Zealand has one of the highest rates of car ownership in the world (NZTS, 2002), with the number of registered private motor vehicles having increased by 12 percent from 2003 to 2.3 million vehicles in 2008 (NZTA, 2009).

Motor vehicle speed is a leading cause of traffic crashes and fatalities in New Zealand.  It has been shown that excessive speed was a leading factor contributing to road crashes, accounting for 34% of fatalities in 1996.  After two years, anti-speed campaigns resulted in reductions of 14% to 26% in speed related crashes (Graham 1998).  So reducing speeds saves lives and road trauma.