Agreed.

--- Agreed

Agreed.

--- Agreed

Agreed.

--- Agreed

Agreed.

--- Agreed

Agreed.

--- Agreed

Agreed.

--- Agreed

Agreed.

--- Agreed

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Clerk has some statistics that I had tabled earlier. I will ask the Clerk if he would be kind enough to pass them out.

Madam Chair, I am pleased to bring forward Bill 5, An Act to Amend the Motor Vehicles Act. This amendment proposes that all vehicles in the NWT will have to have headlights on when driving. I'm proposing this amendment because of my own experiences and because I'm concerned for the safety of elders and children.

I first thought of this while I was going to university. At that time, I had to drive back and forth to the South a couple of times every year. Sometimes I would be driving down the highway passing a vehicle, and a speck turned into a vehicle coming towards me. This can be very scary. If you are side by side with a vehicle that you're trying to pass, suddenly there's a large truck with no lights on right in front of you, you don't know whether to speed up or to try to pass the vehicle, or slow down so the guy you're trying to pass passes you and you can go behind. It's even worse for people with depth perception problems. Depth perception problems means you can't tell how far away things are.

Madam Chair, a recent Saskatchewan government insurance study indicated that children and elders have depth perception problems. This fall, just after I was elected, my nine-year-old son was waiting for the bus. The bus was coming with lights on. I saw him slowing down because he saw my son, and I told him to run across the street. The bus was obviously stopping and it was far enough away for him to get across safely, but he didn't go across. I asked him later why he didn't run across. He told me because he didn't know that the bus was stopping and he wasn't sure how far away it was, if he would have time to get across. He's just not experienced enough to realize this. He has never driven a car, he's not old enough to know how it happens, and he's nine years old. How about younger children? Their perception is even worse. I thought about what two to four tons of unrelenting steel can do to a child. That's when I knew I had to try to do something.

Madam Chair, many accidents happen because a driver does not notice another vehicle, or misjudges its speed. In this instance, the issue is not how well the driver can see; it's poor visual perception. It can be either by the driver or by the pedestrian. I will give you an example. Those of you with glasses, take them off. How well can you see? You can't see too well, can you? But if you look up, you can see those lights pretty well.

At the MLA media hockey game, we all laughed because Mr. Picco could not see without his glasses. To this day, he still doesn't know that the big player who flattened him at centre ice was a woman.

--- Laughter

It's true, Ed.

--- Laughter

I'll give you another example. I took my glasses off while I was standing besides Winks. I looked down the street and I couldn't tell how far away the cars were when they had no lights on. Sometimes I didn't even know a vehicle was coming until it was close. Mandatory use of headlights would greatly reduce the number of accidents we have in the North. A study done in 1991 by the Insurance Institute on Highway Safety of Saskatchewan clearly indicated this. In that report, it talked about Scandinavian countries. The accident rates in Scandinavian countries decreased by 24 to 40 per cent when they made it mandatory for cars to have headlights. The study looked at urban areas and rural areas. Urban areas means towns like Yellowknife, Iqaluit or Rankin Inlet. In Sweden, there were 15 per cent fewer accidents in urban areas in the summertime.

Finland has had daytime running lights legislation since 1972. Sweden legislated it in 1977. In Canada, it's still not mandatory to have headlights on. This means that the NWT would be ahead of the rest of the country, for a change. The only thing we have in place is that late in 1989, the federal government passed a law. Today, new vehicles in Canada have to have lights that automatically come on when you start your car. These are called daytime running lights. As I said, this law was prompted by studies that showed daytime accidents were greatly reduced if vehicles have their headlights on. That same study showed that there were 24 per cent fewer accidents concerning pedestrians when daytime running lights were made mandatory. That means that one out of four pedestrians would not be hit by a vehicle. It would be similar circumstances here.

Under the current Motor Vehicles Act, we're supposed to use our headlights from half an hour after sunset to half an hour before sunrise, or any other time there's poor visibility. Poor visibility is not defined in the act. Basically, this means that headlights must be used during dark hours.

Madam Chair, I don't know what's happening. At one time, truckers were the role models on our highways. They used their headlights, they were courteous. Today, lots of big trucks don't use lights. But it's not only truckers, it's a lot of other people. As I said, I noticed that when I went out and Game back from the South last summer. But it's getting worse now because of the new federal regulations, which means that new cars have to have lights that come on. Pretty soon there will be fewer and fewer cars that are going down the road without lights; the cars without lights will virtually become invisible because you will expect to see all cars with their lights on.

Even now if you see a speck on the highway, you don't know if the vehicle is going the other way, if it's coming towards you or if it's even actually a vehicle. The NWT has bad highway conditions and bad weather conditions. Many roads are windy, many have blind curves. Many roads are narrow. It's hard to pass on these roads without collisions, especially if you're going fast. Many of our roads are also dusty, with no pavement. We all know how difficult it is to drive on a dusty road or, even worse, trying to pass a car on a dusty road. But it's not only dust; we have fog, rain, snow and sleet. With these types of conditions and the lay-out of most of our highways, it's hard to see cars and pedestrians, even in our midnight sun conditions.

However, as I say, studies show that accidents during the day are significantly reduced when people use headlights. This bill could help that. This bill will simply require that the public changes their driving habits. Like seatbelt legislation, this amendment will require people to develop a new habit. Most people now buckle up for safety, out of habit. People didn't do that before our seatbelt legislation, but a recent study shows that close to 80 per cent of the people in the NWT use seatbelts.

Madam Chair, the public will learn lights on for safety. It has been said that people will wind up with dead batteries, people will get tickets for not turning on their lights. At a recent constituency meeting I had, one of my constituents indicated that she puts a clear piece of tape on her driver's side window. That piece of tape has a message on it to shut off her lights. She never forgets to shut off her lights. A person who can't read could easily draw a little light on a piece of clear tape and put it on their window. Dead batteries; what's a dead battery if you can save a life? Besides, it will probably only happen once. Once you wind up with a dead battery, you will always remember to shut off your lights when you get out of your car.

People will get tickets, but how many times does that have to happen to learn? Probably just once. If it costs you $25 to drive down the road without your lights on, the next time you'll remember to turn them on.

Madam Chair, we're talking about changing habits. We're talking about convenience versus lives. It doesn't matter how small your town is. You could be in Fort McPherson, you could be in Lutsel K'e, you could be in Yellowknife, you could be in Pelly Bay. A life is a life. The inconvenience of a dead battery or a traffic ticket should mean nothing compared to saving someone's life or saving them from being crippled. We, in the NWT, were last to make it mandatory to wear seatbelts in our vehicles. Let's be the first for a change. Let's save money by using headlights. We can reduce our insurance rates and our medical costs but, more importantly, it will reduce the loss of human lives. It will reduce the number of people who may be crippled. We can reduce the number of people who have to feel the pain and sorrow of lost loved ones. We can reduce the number of orphaned children there are. These are many things that we can't place a value on; but if we can save one life, we'll be doing good by passing this legislation.

Madam Chair, I could go on, I have more to say, but I believe I will save the rest for if there are any questions. There are some incidents of accidents that have occurred in our small communities, and I can talk about that if anybody wants to ask questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I also support the amendment and I also have a few questions. I also had a situation with my son who was about to run in front of a car and, because he saw the headlights coming in the daylight hours, he didn't. So I concur with Mr. Erasmus's amendment.