Up to 64% of all vehicles crashes are caused by ''driver inattention'', a leading Australian researcher says.
The findings of a study across the Tasman can also be applied to New Zealand roads, where annually the cost of motor vehicle accidents totals about $3.14billion, Australian National University researcher Dr Vanessa Beanland says.
In a seminar attended by about 50 people at the University of Otago yesterday, Dr Beanland outlined how and why driver inattention, specifically ''failing to notice'', was a major contributing factor.
''Over half of all crashes are to do with ... some kind of driver inattention,'' she said.
''It's a big issue.''
Failing to see or look for a hazard accounted for 10% of all accidents, Dr Beanland said.
Intoxication, fatigue or illness resulted in about 38% of accidents.
Distraction by passengers, animals and objects in cars led to 16% of accidents.
Dr Beanland said ''failing to see [notice a potential hazard]'' was a factor that was confusing for drivers and people trying to understand a crash.
''Perceptual errors are a leading contributing factor.
''If something moves, [drivers] are mostly OK.
''When something is a rare thing, it is generally much harder to detect.''
Drivers often became less aware of their surroundings and hazards if they had travelled the route regularly, signals had become commonplace in a driver's mind or the hazard was a rare occurrence.
''Expectations play a key role in how drivers search and attend to their visual environment.''
Data used for the research was collected from 856 crashes between 2000 and 2011, through interviews with drivers and police, crash site inspections, medical records, the coroner and vehicle inspections.
Dr Beanland's advice for drivers was to be ''really aware of other road users and [be] aware of the environment''.
''Anticipation is a big thing. Try and pick out what people might do.''
An NZTA spokesman directed the ODT to its website when approached for comment.
It outlined some of the causes of driver inattention but not specifically failing to notice.
