Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today is National Students Against Impaired and Distracted Driving Day. We’re all well aware of the concerns and dangers to the public of impaired drivers, but what about distracted drivers? Driver distractions include cell phones, eating, drinking, changing a CD, fiddling with radio dials, talking to a passenger, experiencing emotional distress, minding children, personal grooming, looking at billboards, or even looking at other vehicles on the road.
The Canadian Automobile Association publishes a list of the top 10 leading causes of automobile accidents. The number one cause of motor vehicle accidents is cell phone use while driving. Drunk driving is way down the list at number five. How many of us have talked on a cell phone while driving? How many of us have texted on a cell phone while driving?
A study done for the Ontario Medical Association in 2008 determined the following: hands-free and hand-held cell phones both pose a risk of cognitive distraction and that regardless of which one you use, it reduces the speed while the driver processes information. Simulation tests and studies show that drivers using cell phones are 18 percent slower to brake and take 17 percent longer to recover their speed after slowing down.
The Minister of Transportation stated a year ago that studies show that cell phone use while driving reduces reaction times to the same levels as if the driver was intoxicated. The executive director of B.C.’s Safety Training Council has said, “What makes cell phone use distinct from other risky driving behaviours is the magnitude. There are 21 million cell phone users in Canada and as many as 52 percent of them talk on the phone while driving.”
A driver using a cell phone is a distracted driver. Distracted drivers pose serious safety risks to users of our roads, both motor vehicle users and pedestrians. Other jurisdictions are taking action or have taken action. Ontario recently banned hand-held devices while driving. They have joined four other provinces who have already done so. Newfoundland and Labrador were the first province in Canada to ban the use of cell phones, in April 2003. Quebec and Nova Scotia banned the use of cell phones in April 2008. Manitoba passed legislation this past August and Saskatchewan will soon introduce legislation.
I request unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted.