What Canadians need to know about the Distracted Driving Law

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Starting this week, Police officers in Ontario and British Columbia have started enforcing the distracted driving law and meted fines and demerit points to drivers using handheld celfones or other mobile devices while driving.

Ontario’s Distracted Driving Law came into effect on October 26 and British Columbia followed suit on January 1. Up until now, however, both provinces have only issued warning tickets with no fines or demerit points attached. Here's what we need to know about  the distracted driving law.

“Police have been stopping drivers throughout January to give them warnings about talking on a cellphone, and people seem to be getting the message and changing their behaviour,” commented B.C. Solicitor General, Kash Heed.

Limiting distractions

Taking calls, sending and receiving texts or emails or fiddling with phones distracts drivers from concentrating on driving and their cars and can result in fatal accidents.

Currently, there is not a widespread Canadian law governing the use of cell phones while driving. However, a few provinces have taken the initial step to curb cell phone usage while driving. The provinces that have made it illegal to talk or text while driving are Ontario, B.C., Quebec, Newfoundland, Labrador and Nova Scotia. In other words, if you are caught talking or texting while driving, you may face a potentially stiff fine and points on your driver's license.

Studies have found that distracted driving, especially with the use of cellphones, is as dangerous or worse than driving under the influence of alcohol.

Motorists chatting on hand-held or even hands-free cellphones are preoccupied and distracted and a distracted driver is a dangerous driver. Focusing on a text message or on a phone discussion incapacitates concentration that is better used on managing the car and where it is going.

Distracted driver's reaction times are substantially slower, their peripheral vision is obscured and their sense of hearing is reduced, it is like driving drunk.

Here are some facts to consider

• There is no difference in the cognitive distraction between hand-held and hands-free devices. (Based on Simulator studies at the U. of Utah.) 
• Cell phone use also contributed to an estimated 6 percent of all crashes, which equates to 636,000 crashes, 330,000 injuries, 12,000 serious injuries and 2,600 deaths each year. (Based on Harvard Center of Risk Analysis).
• 80 percent of crashes are related to driver inattention. There are certain activities that may be more dangerous than talking on a cell phone. However, cell phone use occurs more frequently and for longer durations than other, riskier behaviors. Thus, the no. 1 source of driver inattention is cell phones. (Virginia Tech 100-car study for NHTSA)

Dr. Donald Redelmeier, a University of Toronto researcher, studied cell phone records of 700 Toronto drivers who were involved in crashes, and found that talking on the phone made them four times more susceptible to driver error leading to accidents. Which is similar to driving under the influence of two or three alcoholic drinks.

Drivers have had a three-month education period and while some violators have been caught, most were let off with a warning. Starting this week, however, police will levy fines of up to $500 for drivers caught using a prohibited hand-held device.

What is banned:

• Use of cell phones, even at a stop light 
• Dialing 
• BlackBerry use 
• Texting
• Hand-held GPS, dash-mounted is allowed

Now that the new law is fully neforced, drivers caught by police will face fines of and demerit points. The only exception is that hand-held phones may be used to dial 911. B.C. drivers will now be fined $167 for each ‘distracted driving’ infraction, while Ontario motorists will have to shell out a minimum of $155.

"There are collisions attributable to it, and some fatalities. So it is a huge concern," said OPP Deputy Commissioner Larry Beechey about distracted driving.

"We've all had near-misses. I'm just as guilty as anyone else. Hands-free or not, talking on the phone is cognitively distracting," explains Dr. Suzanne Strasberg, President of the Ontario Medical Association.

Cell phone bans for drivers are already in place in about 50 countries, including Australia, China, France, Kenya and Slovenia. More countries are expected to sign up as this becoming a global initiative.