Driver Distractions and Passengers: How to Stay Focused as a New Driver

Anything that takes your eyes or mind off the road raises your crash risk. Talking on a phone, even hands-free, increases the chance of a crash, and a phone can make you wander in your lane, follow too closely and miss lights and other road users.

Passengers

• Keep conversation to a minimum and ask passengers to be quiet when you need to concentrate (intersections, school zones, heavy traffic).
• Slow down and leave a bigger gap to the vehicle ahead.
• Ask passengers not to use their phones or devices unless it is an emergency.
• Remember the P1 limit of one passenger aged 16 to under 22. Whatever licence you hold, avoid carrying more than one passenger in your first year of solo driving.

Other distractions

• eating and drinking, smoking, grooming
• reading maps, fiddling with the car controls
• feeling upset or angry
• advertising signs, unusual events beside the road
• reaching for a bag or other object
• GPS, in-car entertainment, smart watches and games consoles

How to reduce distraction

• Set up your GPS and audio before you start driving.
• Use spoken directions instead of looking at a map.
• Put your phone out of reach, on silent or off. If you must make or take a call, pull over and park safely, but not in an emergency lane.
• Get used to one or two distractions (like the radio) late in your learner period while your supervisor is still beside you.

Based on the Victorian Road to Solo Driving handbook and the VicRoads learner and probationary pages. Rules change from time to time, so check vicroads.vic.gov.au for the latest.