Distracted Driving In Canada

Distracted driving is becoming a crisis in many countries, such that in America, 69% of drivers aged 18 to 64 admit to using a handheld device while driving in previous months compared to 29% in the United Kingdom and 59% in Portugal (Helbock, 2015). Currently in America 45 out of 50 states each have passed laws to prohibit distracted driving. Each state sets its own regulations such as 14 states and the District of Columbia (DOC) prohibiting all the drivers from the use of handheld devices, 38 states and DOC bans handheld use for novice drivers, and 45 states and DOC bans texting and driving for all drivers (Collison, 2014). In America alone, almost half a million people are injured and killed annually in traffic accidents relating to distracted
One person on average in Ontario alone is injured every half an hour as a result of distracted driving (Government of Ontario, Ministry of Transportation, 2016). Distracted driving seems to be extremely common because it is statistically shown that more than 50% of the time, drivers take their eyes off the road, resulting in 80% of collisions and 65% of near crash situations as a form of inattention (Owran, 2016). Distracted driving has also had a major economic loss on Canada. At least $10 billion annually is spent on health care costs and lost productivity due to distracted driving (CAA, Statistics, 2012). However, finding a resolution for distracted driving is remotely difficult for Canada’s provincial and territorial governments because people will admit that driving distracted is not safe yet most still do
Since technology has advanced in society the use of a cell phone while driving has become the most discussed problem of distracted driving due to the fact that cell phones are an integral part of life for most people (Helbock, 2015). Since the use of handheld electronic devices while driving became illegal, police are catching more people texting and talking on the phone because it is easier to see someone holding a phone to their ear than texting behind the steering wheel (Williams, 2016). Thus, people are leaning towards texting believing they have less of a chance of being caught for distracted driving. Texting, as well as most other driving distractions, involves three physical and mental actions that all take attention away from the road and are a driving hazard. The first action is visual, texting causes the driver’s eyes to look somewhere else besides the road. The second action is manual, the drivers hand and or hands are taken off the wheel while the vehicle is in motion and is operating controls. The third action is cognitive, the driver’s mind is not focused on driving, but on the handheld device (Helbock, 2015). Drivers engaged in texting are 23 times more likely to be involved in a crash or near crash compared to a non-distracted driver (CAA, Distracted Driving, 2016). Texting in a car results in