Distracted-driving survey finds majority back pricier penalties

Fear alone not working to deter No. 1 cause of road deaths, says

When will it finally be socially unacceptable to use your smartphone while you’re driving ? What will it take to make you a pariah as you carry out what is rapidly becoming the most dangerous activity on our roads? A recent study by Desjardins Insurance presents a bit of a quandary: 80 per cent of respondents said they’ve seen others driving while distracted (overwhelmingly using a phone), yet only 38 per cent will cop to doing it themselves.

The survey, and other statistics like it, are important. In more and more places — Ontario is one — distracted driving has catapulted to become the top factor in fatal crashes.

In 2017, the OPP reported 83 deaths were caused by a distracted driver, 75 were the result of speeding, 49 were because someone wasn’t wearing a seatbelt (really, people?) and 46 were the result of alcohol or drug impairment. Across the U.S. and Canada, distraction is rapidly becoming the No. 1 cause of collisions. “Many things can be considered a distraction,” says Desjardins spokesman John Bordignon, including “smartphones, other passengers and children, eating or drinking, or the car’s touch screens.”

But overwhelmingly, phones are driving the steady climb in fatalities. It makes sense; there have been passengers as long as there have been cars, and drivethrus wouldn’t exist if many of us weren’t eating or drinking in our cars. That leaves the handheld devices, and the technology loaded into our vehicles. While increased fines and demerits are piling up (a full list for all provinces can be found on the CAA website), the Desjardins study found that might be the way to go: 55 per cent of Canadians said the threat of fines and facing hiked insurance rates worried them, and 37 per cent said the fear of a crash would deter them. Either way, a full 68 per cent said that current laws are not effective enough in deterring distracted driving. We need a bigger kick in the wallet. Bordignon poses the obvious question: Why is it still OK to do this?

“This is similar to impaired (driving) years ago,” he says. “It has to be socially unacceptable.” A third of respondents say they use their phone for GPS applications; younger drivers (16-24) being far more likely to use it for this purpose.

While some might be quick to point a finger at younger drivers, a recent report from the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF; Desjardin helps fund it) found some surprising results. The highest number of fatalities caused by distracted driving was in the 35-44 age category (17.3 per cent), followed by the 16-19 set (17.1) and those 65-plus (16). Safest? Those 55 to 64 (10.2). Bordignon acknowledges that onboard technology plays a role in distraction. Manufacturers are sorting out ways to prevent fiddling with GPS systems while on the road, though as consumers demand and get used to increasingly more involved systems, those touch screens will necessarily become more complex. “People need to thoroughly understand the system in their car,” he says. “Spend time so you’re not taking your eyes from the road.” Personally? If I have to jam through three levels of touch screens to change volume or heat, that’s a deal breaker. Play close attention to this when you’re buying a car.

And more to the point of how we make distracted driving as anathema as drunk driving, it’s in our modelling. If our kids grow up watching us texting and making calls, we’re sending out the message that it’s OK.

The idea that people are dying because they just had to send or read a text should be as abhorrent as flipping the keys to a falldown drunk.