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Distracted Drivers Are Dangerous Drivers
The majority of Canadians (89%) believe there are too many distracted drivers but only 60% are willing to give up their gadgets, "... even when told that their cell phone use makes them four times more likely to be involved in a collision," states Mark Yakabuski of the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
"In an environment where multi-tasking has become the norm, drivers are allowing their attention to wander away from the task that requires their full attention - all too often with deadly results," Yakabuski said. "We believe education is the answer. This is not a young driver problem, and it is not a cell phone problem. Canadians need an attitude shift away from the notion that driving is a part-time job."
Distracted driving can occur any time a driver's attention is taken away from where they should be focusing their concentration — the driving task.
Types of distractions
Physical: Distractions that cause a driver to take his/her hands off the wheel
- eating
- drinking
- cell phones
- GPS devices
- Adjusting audio settings regarding radio, CD, MP3
Cognitive: Activities that take the driver's mind away from the road
- carrying on a conversation with another passenger
- talking on a hand-free cell phone
- re-living an argument in your mind
- daydreaming
- looking at billboards
- experiencing emotional distress
Combination: Activities that take your hands, eyes and mind off the road
- reading a map
- programming the radio or MP3
- entering a destination into a GPS device
- personal grooming
- minding children
Even a moment's distraction can be dangerous. A second or two may not seem like much, but at 50 km/hr, you will travel 14 meters in one second.
A lot can happen in a second or two. Being distracted causes drivers to react more slowly to traffic conditions or events, such as another vehicle stopping to make a left turn, or pulling out from a side road. Distracted drivers fail to notice or recognize potential hazards, including pedestrians, bicycles or debris on the road. When drivers allow distractions to take their focus away from the seriousness of the driving task, they decrease their margin of safety and are more likely to take unknown risks.
How distracted driving affects you
Distracted driving is one of the great unreported traffic safety problems facing Canadians today. Evidence available on distracted driving paints an incomplete picture of the risks posed by distractions. Only a handful of studies have been conducted on the subject. Earlier studies had suggested driver distractions were estimated to cause between 20% and 40% of all collisions. Recent data concludes that 8 out of every 10 collisions (80%) are caused by driver distractions.
While numbers may vary, the evidence to date clearly shows that driver distraction is an important issue for road safety. It is also evident that distracted driving affects more than just drivers and passengers on our roads. Collisions caused by distracted drivers negatively impact the health of Canadians, our safety, our trade and tourism, and perhaps most importantly, they leave lifelong impacts on the friends and families of the loved ones who are involved in collisions.
It is important to be aware of the severity of driver distractions and learn ways to diminish their occurrences. Without adequate information and awareness, driver distractions will only continue to increase needlessly risking the lives of more Canadians.
Statistics
The Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) states that a study released in April 2006 by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that driver distraction is a factor in 8 out of 10 – about 4 million – car crashes in North America each year.
Cell phones are among the most common devices cited as being responsible for driver distractions. Drivers talking on cell phones are in many cases just as impaired as drunk drivers, states the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC). Not only is distracted driving potentially as dangerous as driving drunk; it is, in fact, much more common.
In 2006, an IBC commissioned public opinion survey found that 89% of Canadians were very or somewhat concerned about driver distraction; but 60% of drivers would not agree to stop using their cell phones while driving, despite being told that cell phone use made them four times more likely to be involved in a collision.