Targeting distracted drivers

It can be hard to get a distracted driver’s attention.

The light’s turned green, but they are still praying to the internet gods, faces turned down, fingers and thumbs reciting the technological rosary.

Tap the horn and chances are they’ll dart forward, without even getting a clear look at the intersection.

It’s more dangerous for pedestrians. If you walk, you know just how many oblivious drivers there are, chatting away on their cellphone as they completely ignore the white striping of the crosswalk. Step out there at your peril.

But sometimes the best way to get someone’s attention is to point things out using dollars and cents. Governments have been doing that. A number of provincial jurisdictions have increased fines for distracted driving convictions, but that’s really only the beginning.

The private sector seems to be getting on board, too. It’s certainly getting some attention in Alberta, where people with even one distracted driving ticket on their driver’s abstract are finding it either expensive — or in some cases, impossible — to get certain types of car insurance. A ballpark increase of between 15 and 25 per cent isn’t uncommon.

But it can get worse.

Some drivers are finding that a distracted driving ticket means they can’t get insurance coverage like collision or comprehensive insurance — types of coverage usually required for leased or financed vehicles.

Simply put, insurance companies know that drivers who use their phones are riskier drivers and the companies are less and less willing to take on that obvious risk.

Unlike the case with many accidents, though, there is a simple solution to distracted driver accidents involving cellphones: leave the phone in your pocket or purse and concentrate on your driving.

Take a hard look back at any call or text that you answered while driving. (Even hands-free is a distraction, though you can do it in this province.) Were any of those calls so critical and absolutely necessary that you couldn’t find a place to pull over and answer them without putting others at risk? Or were they the mundane electronic traffic of everyday life?

You can’t help it if it’s snowing or pounding down rain (though you can decrease your speed to a safer one). You can’t help it if someone else plows into you because they’re careless or distracted.

But talking on the phone or texting? There are now plenty of studies that demonstrate that being distracted by your phone is as risky as being drunk behind the wheel.

If you’ve been convicted of impaired driving, you obviously wouldn’t be surprised if it was difficult and expensive to get insurance once you regained your driving privileges.

So no one should really be surprised by the idea that insurance companies might be averse to taking risks on proven distracted drivers, too.