New research from Road Safety Education Limited (RSE), providers of the Ryda and Drive Coach programmes (in partnership with Toyota New Zealand), suggests a direct link between parents' mobile phone habits while driving and their children's future behind-the-wheel behaviour.
RSE surveyed 260 students across 22 schools throughout Australia and New Zealand, to produce the survey for National Road Safety Week (that's this week, 11-18 May).
Those who witnessed parents texting were nearly three times more likely to text themselves, while seeing parents make handheld calls resulted in a 68% increase in the likelihood of replicating this behaviour. Even legal activities showed significant influence, with students who saw parents making hands-free calls 2.5 times more likely to do the same.
John Elliott, head of programme delivery at RSE Australia, described the results as a pivotal moment in understanding the formation of dangerous driving habits: "This research confronts us with an uncomfortable truth - our children are watching and learning from every move we make behind the wheel.
Yes, kids copy their parents
"The data clearly shows that when young people observe their parents using phones whilst driving, they're dramatically more likely to normalise and ultimately replicate these behaviours.
"Encouragingly, over 95% of Ryda students indicated they were likely to use, or have already started using, Ryda strategies for managing phones while driving, including switching on do-not-disturb mode or switching the phone off completely, and keeping it out of sight in the glovebox.
“Parents need to understand that every time they reach for their phone, they're not just putting lives at immediate risk - they're programming future driving behaviours that could have consequences for decades."
Drive Coach is a best-practice programme developed by RSE, which aims to get teenagers and their parents on the same page with regards to safe road use.
The research also found that 47% of students had noticed their parents being generally distracted whilst driving, though this broad awareness had less impact on specific phone-related intentions than witnessing particular behaviours.
The most common phone-related behaviour observed was parents making hands-free calls (63%), followed by handheld calls (27%) and texting (22%).
Even the least common behaviour - taking photos or videos while driving - had been witnessed by 9% of students.
National Road Safety Awareness Week
"This week, as part of National Road Safety Awareness Week, we're asking parents to commit not just to put their phones away, but to explicitly discuss this choice with their children," says Elliott.
"Explain why you're switching to do-not-disturb mode, why you pull over to take a call, why no message is worth a life. These conversations, combined with consistent behaviour, will save lives for generations to come."
Ryda focuses on Year 11-12 students (around age 16). Almost 18,000 participants have done the programme this year, which covers 46% of NZ schools.
Toyota NZ's three-year partnership with Ryda has it providing $225,000 in funding to support school education programmes, as well as providing four Toyota Corolla Cross hybrids for use by the Ryda team throughout New Zealand.
The Drive Coach programme was established with the direct support of Toyota this year, to help bring parents into the Ryda education programme and better understand what their teenagers are learning. Nearly 500 parents have attended a Drive Coach session so far this year.