The mobile phone and the automobile are both marvels of modern technology. Problem is, they don’t mix well when operated at the same time.
That’s why the B.C. Medical Association (BCMA) this week renewed its call for the provincial government to enact a prohibition on the use of cellular phones while driving. We wholeheartedly concur with the good doctors’ conclusions on the issue, with one proviso: The ban must make using a cell phone (or text messaging device), whether hands-free or hand-held, a primary offence, subject to enforcement action on its own, not a secondary one, subject to police action only when some other infraction has occurred.
Why? Evidence from other jurisdictions shows that drivers are largely ignoring the ban. In Washington state, for example, state troopers and other police can only issue the $124 ticket if they have stop drivers for another offence, Seattle-based KUOW News reports. In the first year that the law was in effect, 1,600 tickets were written for talking on a cell phone while driving and another 230 for texting while behind the wheel. That compares to 300,000 speeding tickets written during the same period.
The Seattle Times, meanwhile, reports that 63 per cent of the cellphone/driving tickets were handed out to males, and them a majority of them went to drivers under the age of 35.
The BCMA’s report on the issue, called Time to Hang Up, makes it clear that in terms of safety, there’s little difference between hand-held and hands-free cell phone use. According to Province columnist Jon Ferry, the report states, “Reaction times for both hand-held and hands-free devices are both significantly slower than when a driver is not using a cellphone.” The report goes on to say that it’s the type of conversation — with someone outside the vehicle —and the attention given to that conversation that slows reaction times, not the type of phone used.
Banning the practice of text messaging while driving is a no-brainer. Studies show that the practice increases the risk of a crash by more than 20 times; by comparison, statistically speaking, impaired driving increases the risk by seven times.
Young, inexperienced drivers, of course, pose the greatest risk. They’re the first generation to have grown up multi-tasking to the degree that people do today — listening to music and text-messaging friends while walking and carrying on a live conversation with friends, for example. And it’s all good — but downright frightening and dangerous to others when part of the scenario includes operating a motor vehicle at 50 or 80 or 100 kilometres per hour.
Many will argue that it’s our right to do as we please when we’re behind the wheel. Wrong. Driving is a privilege, not a right, and that privilege should be extended only to those who abide by the rules of the road — one of which should be that the operator is giving his/her full attention to the task. No exceptions.
It’s true that eating, drinking coffee, listening to music and speaking to passengers are also distractions. But that’s why we have laws against “driving without due care and attention.” Enacting a law against drinking coffee while driving would be redundant and unenforceable. A similar law against talking on the phone would be just the opposite and would, in fact, make British Columbia’s highways and byways much safer than they are now.
