Since Bill 16 was brought into and passed through legislation in Alberta there are still flagrant violations occurring on a daily basis. Distracted Driving is as deadly as impaired driving whether through alcohol or spontaneous health problems. But people still believe that they can maneuver a 4 or 5000 pound vehicle through traffic, school zones and on Alberta's busy highways while talking or texting on their phones. Obviously the fine of $172 isn't enough because folks are still doing it. I've witnessed Moms with Kids in the vehicle zooming (120 Kph plus) down the Queen E 11 highway between Calgary and Edmonton with, yup you guessed it a Cell Phone stuck to their ear in bumper to bumper traffic. Maybe the name of the law should be changed to Dumb Ass Driving and the fine increased to $500 minimum and removal of said electronic device for at least 6 months. Oh and perhaps a safe driving course thrown in for good measure. (those are presented in the oil patch safety meetings all the time.
How privileged do these people feel that they just have to yak on the phone while driving. It smacks of arrogance and small thinking. I remember at a PC conference in Calgary where a discussion about a new distracted driving law was floating around. Former Premier Stelmach was on the main stage taking questions from the audience and this young lady stood up to ask the Premier why the caucus would even consider putting forth such a draconian law. Another law to control the people and that she thought it was wrong to burden the public with another control. The Premier responded (and I'm paraphrasing here) that it has been proven that reaction time while driving is slowed even more when conducting other activities in the vehicle. Also that multi-tasking severely increased the possibility of causing a driver to become further distracted and creating the potential for a vehicular accident. The young lady was still miffed and said " I'm young and I have no problem multi-tasking so the law should be scrapped! Obviously here was a person that wasn't prepared to listen to reason but believed that it was her right to drive and phone at the same time. HOW then do we break that chain of thought?
Unfortunately the costs of enforcement via our police forces is prohibitive in that you would need a huge squad of officers, to check and stop and write up ever violator and deal with all the other criminal activities and highway violations. Perhaps its time to place the place the problem squarely in the lap of other citizens of the province. Not that we should have them stopping and charging violators but perhaps a hotline number that could be called to report licence numbers and activities of the offenders. From that phone in a 1st notice could be generated and sent to that individual stating that they were observed violating the Distracted Driving law on the date in question and that if a second report came forward that demerits would be applied to their licence. The potential threat of losing their licence could prove to be a much stronger reinforcement method than the $172 fine.
There are certainly a few wrinkles with a plan like that such as chagrined spouses reporting their mates just to get back at them but they could have their day in court to explain or plea bargain. The inconvenience of it all might be enough to start changing some attitudes.
It could be an interesting discussion amongst the powers that be. And, it just may work. Your thoughts?
