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Vehicle technology ‘must-haves’ and the fear of distraction

Australian drivers are seeking out advanced safety features even while fearing distractions are a major cause of crashes  and remaining largely sceptical about ‘hands free’ driving.

Age and gender have also proven to be factors contributing to different attitudes to safety technology and distraction.

The survey conducted by insurer Budget Direct of more than 1,000 Australian car owners also found more than 1 in 10 (16 per cent) reported having either an accident or a close call due to these technological distractions.

Three-quarters of the survey respondents (75 per cent) believe that car technology can be distracting with touchscreens, hands-free mobile phones and speech-to-text systems listed among the worst.

Forty-one per cent remain sceptical about trusting automated driving systems like lane correction or pedestrian protection.

Budget Direct’s Chief Growth Officer, Jonathan Kerr, says advanced technologies that were once only in luxury cars are becoming much more widely available in mid- and lower-range cars and this reflects market demand.

“Innovative safety features such as automatic braking and blind spot warnings are more often becoming standard,” he says

“The number of cars in Australia has nearly doubled in the last 30 years. Busier roads could be one factor explaining why the latest safety and driver assistance technology are high priority.”

Nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) say the latest safety and driver assistance tech is either very or extremely important to them.

MUST HAVES

The top five priority features respondents are seeking out are rearview cameras and parking sensors (68 per cent), blind-spot warning systems (61 per cent), collision warning and avoidance systems (49 per cent), auto emergency braking (46 per cent) and lane departure warning and correction systems (38 per cent).

“Interestingly, attitudes across different segments differed quite a lot,” Kerr says.

“Perhaps because it is more familiar to them, it was our younger car owners who emphasised safety tech. Nearly three-quarters (71 per cent) of Gen Y or younger told us it was important compared to 63 per cent of Gen X and 58 per cent of Baby Boomers.”

The must-haves of new technology. Source: Budget Direct

Exactly half of Gen Y or younger says convenience and entertainment were important versus 40 per cent of Gen X and just 28 per cent of Baby Boomers.

More men (45 per cent) than women (37 per cent) rated the latest convenience and entertainment tech as must-haves.

The survey found female car owners were more cautious about technology both in terms of trust and as a distraction. A little over half (53 per cent) of women were prepared to fully trust their safety tech compared to nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) of men.

With distractions; 79 per cent of women thought it was a problem but 70 per cent of men thought so.

If you want to read more about attitudes to driving distractions, check Distracted Driving Survey and Statistics survey.

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