New numbers from the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) show that distracted driving has recently surpassed impaired driving in automotive fatalities. According to a CTV news report last month, for the first time in Ontario, deaths from distracted driving are double that of impaired driving. So far this year, there have been 38 fatalities due to inattention behind the wheel compared to 19 who have died due to impaired driving. Statistics released last year by the OPP found there were 69 distracted driving fatalities on OPP-patrolled roads compared to the 45 impaired-driving fatalities. In B.C., the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia found that in 2014, 64 people were killed in impaired-driving related fatalities compared to 81 who were killed due to distracted driving.
Figures from Saskatchewan Government Insurance also show that 26 people were killed and nearly 600 injured in more than 3,300 collisions related to distracted driving in 2014, compared with 46 fatalities attributed to alcohol.
The problem was so serious that in Toronto, public educational billboards for a made-up funeral home with the morbid message, “Text and Drive. Wathan Funeral Home,” were mounted on the Gardiner Expressway near the Exhibition grounds, and another at Albion Road at Steeles Avenue. The black and white billboards were designed by Toronto ad agency john st. and donated by Cieslok Media as their contributions to spreading the word about a problem that people think they are invincible to.
British Columbia and Ontario have banned the use of hand-held communications and electronic entertainment devices while driving. Alberta expands its legislation beyond hand-held electronic devices to include other forms of driver distraction, including eating, drinking, reading, writing and personal grooming. Fines for distracted driving currently range from up to $145 and four demerit points in Quebec to $579 in Nova Scotia and up to $1,000 and three demerit points in Ontario. In B.C., a ticket for a first offence is $543 and $888 for the second offence, with four demerit points.
According to Global, a spokesperson for the Federal Justice Department said most provinces and territories (with the exception of Nunavut) have penalties for distracted driving and criminal charges can be laid when cases reach a level of dangerous or careless driving. Under the Criminal Code of Canada, dangerous driving causing bodily harm carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, while dangerous driving causing death carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
In response to mounting media and safety advocacy groups’ pressure about the need to criminalize distracted driving, Federal Transportation Minister Marc Garneau said earlier this month that distracted driving is a “big problem” and promised to raise the issue with his provincial counterparts in a Toronto meeting yesterday. Unfortunately, Transport Ministers from across Canada seemed to have mixed feelings about this subject and would not commit to a consensus about an action plan.
Most people think that only millennials are culprits in texting and driving but, in fact, I know a lot of baby boomers who are equally guilty of this dangerous habit. I believe that not only should we criminalize distracted driving, but we should also introduce roadside “textalyzer” tests in the aftermath of a collision just like what New York is proposing. Under a new road safety bill being proposed in the New York State legislature, all drivers in the state would automatically consent to having police digitally scan their phones using roadside “textalyzer” tests. The technology is the digital equivalent of the breathalyzer tests used on drunk drivers, enabling cops to detect whether drivers were texting or posting on Facebook while driving.
The proposed bill also states that any “refusal to submit a mobile telephone or personal electronic device to the field testing will result in the revocation of the driver’s licence or permit,” effective immediately. Depending on how the testing works, that could also mean surrendering your device’s PIN or encryption password to the cops and simply trusting their technology to only extract information relevant to distracted driving.
New York was the first state to ban the use of cellphones while driving and has a reputation for pioneering road safety regulations later adopted across the country. According to Governor Andrew Cuomo, motorists have seen an 840 percent increase in tickets for texting while driving since 2011. The New York Times reported that in the U.S., 14 states currently prohibit the use of hand-held devices by drivers, and 46 ban texting, with penalties ranging from a US$25 fine in South Carolina to US$200 fines elsewhere, and even points assessed against the driver’s licence. A handful of states, including New York, have strengthened their original bans, which in 2014 adopted tougher sanctions that include a 120-day suspension of a permit or a licence suspension for drivers under 21, while a second offence calls for a full-year suspension.
It might still take a while to fine-tune the “textalizing” technology and making sure that privacy and civil liberties are protected at the same time. But it is time to take a more serious approach in Canada too to stopping drivers who continually engage in reckless behaviour, such as texting, using apps and browsing the web on their mobile devices while behind the wheel. Until distracted driving is treated as seriously as drunk driving, the former behaviour will continue to cause more fatalities on the road!
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