Safer Roads??

As of January 1, 2019 roads it is now safer to travel the roads of Ontario - at least according to the Ontario Government. It is difficult to argue against increasing the penalties for those drivers who are caught driving while being distracted by various mobile devices, or for that matter any driver who is not totally focused on their vehicle and the vehicles around it. It is especially difficult when one reads that, according to the Ontario Government, "deaths from collisions caused by distracted driving have doubled since 2000"(1).

Unfortunately, the above statistic is completely meaningless. The reader has no idea as to the number of deaths in 2000 - was it half a dozen or a thousand? Furthermore, there is no indication of how many of these deaths, either in 2000 or 2013, were caused by talking on a cell phone, texting, looking at a GPS or eating a donut. The statistics are used to create a blanket assumption that if one has something in ones' hand - there is a risk of being distracted. And this assumption may be, at the very least, misleading.

There is ample research in the academic literature that suggests that it is not the act of holding a phone while driving that creates the problem, it is the very nature of telephone conversations that can potentially distract a driver (see Lamble et al(2, Caird et al(3)). It would appear that it is almost irrelevant as to whether or not the phone is being held in the driver's hand or if the driver is using a "hands-free" system. Therefore to ban holding a cell phone while allowing, if not encouraging the use of blue tooth etc makes no sense. It is quite clearly a knee-jerk reaction to the proliferation of cell phones, their use in cars and the increase in accidents and deaths. The new regulations will not solve the problem.

On the other hand, clearly it is extraordinarily dangerous to type text messages, or to read messages while driving, it is also equally as dangerous to enter addresses etc into a GPS. These type of activities should be banned, the consequences harsh. But given that many vehicles now have large screens built into the dash that function as both a GPS unit and a control system for entertainment and climate - the opportunities for distraction appears to be increasing.

What makes the new Ontario regulations appear to be a "shotgun approach" to solving a problem is the inclusion of eating in the vehicle being clearly defined as a possible driving distraction. There is no doubt that managing a hot coffee while eating a hamburger can be distracting. But that activity is nothing new. The very existence of drive-in-windows at virtually all fast food restaurants would suggest that a significant number of people eat and/or drink while driving. Again, it would be useful to know if eating in a vehicle is a problem and if so how much of one.

While by creating harsh laws with significant penalties is a short-term solution to the problem - perhaps developing better training for drivers, encouraging people to take responsibilities for their actions or the actions of those who are driving with them, or reducing the number of distractions in a vehicles might make a difference. Which leads me to my final point.

If a bar can be held accountable when a drunk patron gets behind a wheel and then causes an accident, can McDonald's', Wendy's or Tim Horton's be held accountable when a patron while opening their burger causes an accident?


1 https://www.ontario.ca/page/distracted-driving
2 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001457599000184
3 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001457508000183