More pressure is needed to curb the texting and driving epidemic
Things have changed dramatically since I was a child with respect to what is considered socially taboo “in-vehicle” behaviour. I remember driving to visit my cousins in Meaford, Ont. in the middle of winter in my Mom’s 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 station wagon with bald summer tires and no seat belts — or at least none that I recall.
It probably didn’t matter whether there were seat belts or not, because I seem to recall at least one of the three of us three kids in the back, bouncing around with whatever luggage we had.
So while it has taken more than 35 years, seat belt usage in Canada, according to Transport Canada, is now over 95 per cent. For most us — children and adults alike — we do not think twice about fastening our seat belt before the car is put into motion, but it has taken us a long time to get here.
What this demonstrates is the need for continually reinforcing the “buckle up” message from a number of different sources over time for us to achieve a road safety goal that comes close to the 100 per cent mark. Of note, our neighbours to the south have national rates of seat belt usage of only 85 per cent suggesting that public service campaigns also need to be buttressed by laws with significant deterrents, such as fines and demerit points, along with consistent enforcement of the law.
With seat belt usage approaching 100 per cent, we have witnessed campaigns over the past several years that have zeroed in on the dangers of drinking and driving. While these public service campaigns traditionally took place prior to the Christmas holiday season, more recently, campaigns highlighting the perils of drinking and driving have become more commonplace throughout the year — especially around long weekends.
DRIVE RESPONSIBLY
Further, the “don’t drink and drive” public service announcement landscape is no longer the exclusive territory of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, with MADD being joined in that space by the Brewer’s Retail and the LCBO in Ontario, in addition to automobile manufacturers — some of which have made drinking and driving the focus of their corporate social responsibility outreach.
Not that either of my parents was ever a particularly big drinker, but I do not think it ever crossed their minds that they maybe shouldn’t be driving the family home after being over at friends or family for dinner and enjoying a few glasses of wine or beer.
Sadly the “don’t drink and drive” message has taken longer to become part of the collective consciousness of Canadian drivers. So while there has been progress in reducing the overall number of fatalities and serious injuries on Canadian roads by about 25 per cent since 1996, according to Transport Canada’s Road Safety in Canada, 2011 report, the statistics involving alcohol are significantly different and somewhat discouraging.
The same Transport Canada report notes that in 1987, more than 50 per cent of the fatally injured drivers had been drinking or were over the .08 BAC limit. This percentage decreased, improving to just over 30 per cent in 1999 before moving back up to levels in the mid to high thirties in the intervening years between 2000 and 2008, actually showing a trend to higher percentages over the course of the last few years.
While I was not able to quickly track down these same statistics for years post -2008, those numbers would prove interesting given that in 2008 changes were made to the Criminal Code providing police with broader investigative tools to assess alcohol impairment in drivers as well as imposing much stiffer penalties for those convicted of causing death or bodily harm.
It would appear, however, that the more severe legal consequences associated with drinking and driving do not seem to have impacted driver behaviour. I can recall three incidents over the course of the summer months in Ontario alone where impaired drivers going the wrong way down 400-series highways caused completely unnecessary death and destruction. While drinking and driving has become much more socially unacceptable, we still have a long way to go to eliminate the problem. It should also be noted that governments are increasingly assessing driver impairment associated with drug use as well.
KEEP YOUR HANDS ON THE WHEEL
In addition to drinking and driving campaigns, in more recent years we have witnessed the rise in public service campaigns that are focused on distracted driving. Most of the attention has been placed on cellphone use for the purposes of making actual phone calls or, more often than not, for texting. While aftermarket Bluetooth devices and a growing number of vehicles with Bluetooth capability either as standard equipment or as an option, has largely provided a solution for “hands free calling” programs, apps to facilitate “hands free texting” are only really starting to become well known.
Yet despite technological solutions and laws in every province and territory (with the exception of Nunavut, I believe) banning the use of handheld devices — their use continues nonetheless. A 2009 survey undertaken by the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA) revealed that 22 per cent of those Nova Scotians surveyed admitted to using a handheld phone, despite the passage of a law banning the devices in 2008.
Likewise in Quebec, the Société de l’assurance automobile Québec (SAAQ) has noted that despite laws banning handheld devices in 2008, and the fact that 99 per cent of those surveyed said that texting was dangerous along with 80 per cent indicating that using a cell phone was dangerous, the infractions have grown from 18,248 in 2008 to 56,598 in 2011.
So it would seem despite knowing that texting and driving or using a handheld phone while driving are extremely dangerous, we continue to engage in these activities. The perception of danger around handheld phone use appears to be supported by the evidence as well as the SAAQ has also stated that distracted drivers are twenty times more likely to be involved in collisions than those who are not.
I don’t think I am that different from you. My commute to work is about ten kilometers each way and every day I see dozens of people texting while driving or using a handheld phone while driving. It’s frustrating that such behaviour does not yet seem to carry with it any social taboo.
Many of us would probably say something to (or report to police) a driver stopped beside us at a traffic light who was throwing back a beer, but for whatever reason, someone talking on a cell phone or oblivious to a changed traffic light while they finalize their text message, does not seem to elicit the same response.
Based on the history of both increasing seat belt use and reducing the incidences of drinking and driving, there is no doubt that the relatively recently passed laws in Canada will take time, along with more strident enforcement and perhaps stiffer penalties to effect a change in behaviour around distracted driving.
Corporate social responsibility initiatives and public service announcements around illegal distracted driving activities are a necessary component as well, and on that score I think it is important to acknowledge the efforts undertaken by the Trillium Automobile Dealers Association and the Ontario Provincial Police Association, in Ontario to highlight the dangers associated with distracted driving in their recent print campaign in Ontario newspapers.
The more work that we all can do to dissuade people from distracted driving while increasing the social unacceptability of participating in texting and cellphone use when behind the wheel, the safer our roads will be.
