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Accidents waiting to happen
Wednesday August 6 2008
 
We’ve all seen the driver, chatting on their cell phone while the stoplight changes to green, blissfully unaware of other motorists behind him/her.
Or how about the driver who crosses over the centre line while trying to retrieve that all-important message on their BlackBerry?
While inattentive drivers are unlikely to go the way of the dinosaur, the Ontario government is proposing new legislation this fall— so-called “distracted driver legislation”— that could range from an outright ban on the use of electronics while driving to measures that would toughen Ontario’s existing laws.
Progressive Conservative MPP John O’Toole has been pushing such legislation for years through a series of private member’s bills and it appears as if the Liberal government has been convinced it’s time for such action even though only months ago Premier Dalton McGuinty dismissed a cellphone ban.
“Do we ban coffee drinking in cars?” mused the premier.
More than 50 countries already ban cell phone use in vehicles to some degree and three Canadian provinces (Quebec, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia) ban phone use with fines ranging from $115 to $400.
According to one U.S. study driver distraction was listed as a factor in 80 per cent of North American car crashes.
Getting behind the wheel of a vehicle carries a huge responsibility with it. Your life and the lives of others depend on your ability to follow the rules of the road and to be alert and ready to react to unexpected situations. It takes only a split second for an accident to happen and any legislation put forward that penalizes those who insist on fumbling with a cell phone or iPod instead of watching the road is a good step.
Certainly there will be civil libertarians who will crow about an infringement on rights and others who will say the law is virtually unenforceable, but we’re eager to see what Ontario Transportation Minister Jim Bradley comes up with this fall when he attempts to get drivers’ eyes back on the road where they belong.