{"id":36530,"date":"2025-10-21T12:22:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T05:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thaipropertynews.com\/feeds\/?p=36530"},"modified":"2025-10-21T12:22:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T05:22:07","slug":"hold-the-phone-australians-increasingly-confident-to-use-their-mobiles-while-driving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thaipropertynews.com\/feeds\/?p=36530","title":{"rendered":"Hold the phone! Australians increasingly confident to use their mobiles while driving."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"legendSpanClass\"><span class=\"xn-location\">BRISBANE, Australia<\/span><\/span>, <span class=\"legendSpanClass\"><span class=\"xn-chron\">Oct. 21, 2025<\/span><\/span> \/PRNewswire\/ &#8212; Australians are becoming increasingly confident to drive while using their mobile phones.<\/p>\n<p>The shock findings are contained in a survey of 1,000 Australian drivers by <u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.budgetdirect.com.au\/car-insurance.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">car insurer Budget Direct<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n<p>Exactly twenty-two per cent of drivers felt confident using their phone while driving.<\/p>\n<p>The 5-year trend paints a worrying picture for road safety authorities, with confidence growing at a steady rate.<\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>2020 \u2013 12%<\/li>\n<li>2023 \u2013 19%<\/li>\n<li>2025 \u2013 22%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Almost half the survey respondents (45%) admitted using their phone while driving in the past two weeks.<\/p>\n<p>The main way they used their phone while driving was to use a navigation app (23%), followed by checking the phone while stopped at traffic lights (8%).<\/p>\n<p>Over six per cent of people who answered the survey changed songs on a playlist and another 3 per cent read or replied to a text message.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly forty-four per cent of respondents said they used the phone because they felt safe and capable to do so. Exactly seventeen per cent admitted it was a habit, and 15 per cent claimed it was an emergency.<\/p>\n<p>Budget Direct Chief Growth Officer <span class=\"xn-person\">Jonathan Kerr<\/span> pointed out that modern phones serve so many purposes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re your phone, your email, your internet, your social media, your diary, even your driver&#8217;s licence and wallet,&#8221; said Mr Kerr.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That poses some unexpected grey areas. For example, in some states it may be illegal to use your phone to pay at the drive-through.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"xn-location\">Victoria<\/span>, <span class=\"xn-location\">New South Wales<\/span>, <span class=\"xn-location\">Queensland<\/span> and recently <span class=\"xn-location\">South Australia<\/span> have changed the rules to enable tap and go payments in drive-throughs.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, drivers need to ensure they put their car in park before picking up their phone.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our survey revealed nearly 54 per cent of respondents felt it should be legal,&#8221; said Mr Kerr.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Twenty-nine per cent said only if the car was turned off; and 18 per cent said it was never okay to pay with your phone in the drive-through.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Despite the increasing confidence in using a phone while driving, 30 per cent of drivers surveyed felt texting while driving was most likely to result in a road fatality, putting it as more dangerous than speeding (18%) and not wearing a seatbelt (5%).<\/p>\n<p>Only drink driving (40%) was considered more likely to result in fatality.<\/p>\n<p>Those results were reversed in older demographics, with 58-67 year olds (43%) and 68-75 year olds (39%) believing texting was more dangerous than drink driving.<\/p>\n<p>So, what would discourage drivers from using their phones while driving?<\/p>\n<p>Tougher penalties, according to 35 per cent of respondents. Mobile detection cameras came in second at 23 per cent, with 18 per cent preferring increased awareness of distracted driving.<\/p>\n<p>Over twelve per cent of drivers we asked said nothing would be effective.<\/p>\n<p>See Budget Direct&#8217;s recent survey on <u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.budgetdirect.com.au\/car-insurance\/research\/mobile-phones-while-driving-survey-statistics.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Mobile Phone Use Whilst Driving<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"prntac\"><b>ENDS<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>DISCLAIMER<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Insurance is arranged by Auto &amp; General Services Pty Ltd (ABN 61 003 617 909, AFSL 241 411, Registered Office: 13\/9 Sherwood Rd, Toowong 4066) on behalf of the insurer, Auto &amp; General Insurance Company Limited ABN 42 111 5 86 353.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><!-- wp:html --><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"legendSpanClass\"><span class=\"xn-location\">BRISBANE, Australia<\/span><\/span>, <span class=\"legendSpanClass\"><span class=\"xn-chron\">Oct. 21, 2025<\/span><\/span> \/PRNewswire\/ &#8212; Australians are becoming increasingly confident to drive while using their mobile phones.<\/p>\n<p>The shock findings are contained in a survey of 1,000 Australian drivers by <u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.budgetdirect.com.au\/car-insurance.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">car insurer Budget Direct<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n<p>Exactly twenty-two per cent of drivers felt confident using their phone while driving.<\/p>\n<p>The 5-year trend paints a worrying picture for road safety authorities, with confidence growing at a steady rate.<\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>2020 \u2013 12%<\/li>\n<li>2023 \u2013 19%<\/li>\n<li>2025 \u2013 22%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Almost half the survey respondents (45%) admitted using their phone while driving in the past two weeks.<\/p>\n<p>The main way they used their phone while driving was to use a navigation app (23%), followed by checking the phone while stopped at traffic lights (8%).<\/p>\n<p>Over six per cent of people who answered the survey changed songs on a playlist and another 3 per cent read or replied to a text message.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly forty-four per cent of respondents said they used the phone because they felt safe and capable to do so. Exactly seventeen per cent admitted it was a habit, and 15 per cent claimed it was an emergency.<\/p>\n<p>Budget Direct Chief Growth Officer <span class=\"xn-person\">Jonathan Kerr<\/span> pointed out that modern phones serve so many purposes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re your phone, your email, your internet, your social media, your diary, even your driver&#8217;s licence and wallet,&#8221; said Mr Kerr.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That poses some unexpected grey areas. For example, in some states it may be illegal to use your phone to pay at the drive-through.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"xn-location\">Victoria<\/span>, <span class=\"xn-location\">New South Wales<\/span>, <span class=\"xn-location\">Queensland<\/span> and recently <span class=\"xn-location\">South Australia<\/span> have changed the rules to enable tap and go payments in drive-throughs.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, drivers need to ensure they put their car in park before picking up their phone.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our survey revealed nearly 54 per cent of respondents felt it should be legal,&#8221; said Mr Kerr.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Twenty-nine per cent said only if the car was turned off; and 18 per cent said it was never okay to pay with your phone in the drive-through.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Despite the increasing confidence in using a phone while driving, 30 per cent of drivers surveyed felt texting while driving was most likely to result in a road fatality, putting it as more dangerous than speeding (18%) and not wearing a seatbelt (5%).<\/p>\n<p>Only drink driving (40%) was considered more likely to result in fatality.<\/p>\n<p>Those results were reversed in older demographics, with 58-67 year olds (43%) and 68-75 year olds (39%) believing texting was more dangerous than drink driving.<\/p>\n<p>So, what would discourage drivers from using their phones while driving?<\/p>\n<p>Tougher penalties, according to 35 per cent of respondents. Mobile detection cameras came in second at 23 per cent, with 18 per cent preferring increased awareness of distracted driving.<\/p>\n<p>Over twelve per cent of drivers we asked said nothing would be effective.<\/p>\n<p>See Budget Direct&#8217;s recent survey on <u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.budgetdirect.com.au\/car-insurance\/research\/mobile-phones-while-driving-survey-statistics.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Mobile Phone Use Whilst Driving<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"prntac\"><b>ENDS<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>DISCLAIMER<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Insurance is arranged by Auto &amp; General Services Pty Ltd (ABN 61 003 617 909, AFSL 241 411, Registered Office: 13\/9 Sherwood Rd, Toowong 4066) on behalf of the insurer, Auto &amp; General Insurance Company Limited ABN 42 111 5 86 353.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:html --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cision-pr-newswire","category-cision-pr-newswire-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thaipropertynews.com\/feeds\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thaipropertynews.com\/feeds\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thaipropertynews.com\/feeds\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thaipropertynews.com\/feeds\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thaipropertynews.com\/feeds\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thaipropertynews.com\/feeds\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36530\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thaipropertynews.com\/feeds\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thaipropertynews.com\/feeds\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thaipropertynews.com\/feeds\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}