By The Way I See It

GINTA: Still handling the phone while driving? Don’t

Mar 18, 2019 | 2:00 PM

A FEW WEEKS AGO, I READ a book that could not have a more sobering title: A Deadly Wandering – A Tale of Tragedy and Redemption in the Age of Attention, by Matt Richtel (William Morrow/Harper Collins 2014). I highly recommend it. Also, I think it should be required reading for anyone who thinks that driving and texting or handling the phone in general while behind the wheel, can be done safely.

The book brings up the story of Reggie Shaw, who on an early September morning in 2006 was driving to work. He was 19 at the time. Texting while driving caused his SUV to repeatedly swerve and cross the median. Freezing rain added to the potential disaster unfolding. He clipped an incoming car, a Saturn, driven by two men on their commute, both family men in their early 40s. The Saturn spun out of control and was hit by a truck following behind Reggie, whose driver tried to avoid hitting it but was unable to. Reggie’s car had barely a scratch, but the Saturn ended up in the ditch with both driver and passenger killed.

It is impossible to understand the impact of that accident. It is impossible not to think that it could have been avoided if only the phone had not been used. Research on attention and texting while driving was still in its infancy. A lot has been uncovered since and the conclusion could not be clearer: phones and driving do not mix. Ever. Attention is greatly diminished and no matter how versed someone says they are, their brain has a different story to tell.

March is distracted driving awareness month (why only March one could ask), hence the visible police presence on our roads. Some people resented the initiative and called it a money grab — the fine for a first offense is $360 along with four penalty points, which would bring the total to a hefty $578 and two or more offenses in a three-year period could lead to fines up to $2,000. Others I hope, became aware once again of the importance of staying focused on the road.

We all know the ultimate price of distracted driving — life loss, whether we care to acknowledge it out loud or not. I saw it first hand when I almost got hit by a truck (on a crossing) convinced I was being seen by the driver whose gaze was seemingly on the downhill road. He hit the brakes at the last moment and hid his face behind his hand. I will never know for sure but perhaps his eyes were on a screen instead of the road and pedestrians.

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Our family saw a motorcyclist texting while riding fast on the Coquihalla — that is to this day the worst of its kind; my husband and I saw a slower than normal moving truck on Victoria Street the other day and as we drove past, I noticed the phone in the driver’s hand.

According to the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA), drivers who handle their phones while driving are up to eight times more likely to be involved in a crash. In British Columbia, 27 percent of the fatal crashes were due to distraction; that includes hands-free phone use.

The facts associated with distracted driving are unsettling: drivers may look at their surroundings, but up to 50 percent of that information remains unseen; 6 in 10 teen crashes involved distraction and almost half of the people killed in these accidents were teens themselves; handling the phone while driving presents a six-fold increase in risk of crashing compared to drunk driving; a crash usually occurs within three seconds after the drivers got distracted.

Driving requires lots of attention (a limited resource by the way), and for a good reason: life depends on us doing it right. Multitasking may work at times, but not while behind the wheel.

To be fair, distraction is not just related to phone use. People can have involved conversations whether to a person in the car or over the phone, or their attention can be hijacked by deep thinking or day dreaming, handling the stereo or grabbing food. Distraction wears many coats but having screens nearby costs us almost all of it for brief periods of time. When in a fast-moving vehicle, you might as well have a blindfold for the few seconds of checking the phone.

Our relationship with screens is expected to get more involved as technology keeps evolving (not to our advantage I may say). Remembering the simplest truth, that life (our own and other people’s too) depends on our ability and willingness to focus on the road while driving should be incentive enough to put the phone out of reach, muted and temporarily forgotten.

As our teenagers get their own cars and join us on the road, we should not hold back from reminding them the same; bringing up the most sobering of stories to drive home the issue (pun intended). Things can shift for the worst in seconds. No text, song, phone call or internet search is worth someone’s life.

If it’s urgent, pull to the side as soon as it’s safe, turn off the engine and then bring the phone out to deal with any emergency. Let’s make every month distracted driving awareness month, and every day of each month too. We are all worth it.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.