Distracted Driving Crackdown

[jasond_71]

That article talks about actual cell phone use vs distracted driving as cause of death. Distracted driving still caused the death but how can they prove it was a cell phone unless it was in their dead hand in the vehicle. I'm sure there are lots of deaths from cell phone use but they can't record it on the accident report because how would they know for sure so they record it as distracted driving. Then a law firm gets a hold of the statistics and spins it the way they want.
You would have to be an idiot to think that using a cell phone, or doing your makeup or having a dog on your lap while driving does not distract you.

[Poindexter]

just another money grab.

Won't cost a cent for anyone smart enough to put thier phone away while they're driving.

The real money grabbers are the distracted drivers my ICBC rates subsidize after they cause an accident.

[craigt]

So everyone’s ok having a dog in your lap while you drive?

[Bsuds]

So everyone’s ok having a dog in your lap while you drive?

Nope!

[KL3-Something]

So everyone’s ok having a dog in your lap while you drive?

Nope

[AltaRed]

Whatever it takes to get people off the cell phones (and a host of other distractions) in vehicles. I agree with the poster about the rest of us having to pay the price in ICBC premiums for all these irresponsible types. I suspect half of the drivers around here wouldn't survive a week on the roads in Europe.

[Grandan]

Distracted driving is barely an issue. Did none of you read about the law firm in Vancouver that applied through the Freedom of Information Act to get the actual numbers of distracted driving accidents with cell phones. They are nowhere near what ICBC has been lying to us about. Lying about the numbers. Think about that. So if they're lying about that the only reason would be to justify higher fines and to increase premiums to cover the cost of most of the idiot or bad drivers that caused way more accidents than cell phone distracted drivers. You're more adistracted driver trying to change a CD on your stereo or change radio stations. Obviously there's going to be extremes for some cell phone distracted drivers. But the actual facts of cell phone distracted drivers is nowhere near what ICBC has been lying about. If I can read dig up that article I will post it. I personally don't like being lied to to justify a change in policy or to raise fines which is merely just taxation. If you want to make a dent in distracted driving. Take out all GPS units,stereo radios, any form of communication built into the car. don't allow passengers or children.. but even if you do that you'll still have the bad drivers and the idiot drivers. They're not singling out cell phone distracted driving because it's the issue . The proof is in the numbers that they lied about.there saying that's why they're doing it because they can justify the fines and enforcement..

So they are lying? When the police stop 300 people for using their phone there were at least that many that got away with it because they were more discrete in their use or they had put it down after their call and didn't get caught so these people didn't get counted. Yes, lying because buddy made his phone disappear after the accident and no one witnessed his actions.
Lying because buddy said the sun was in his eyes when he ran down the pedestrian. Yah, I hear you you but I'm not buying it.

[alanjh595]

ICBC is not the only source of stats. Maybe all provinces and states are lying too.

Distracted driving is dangerous, claiming 3,477 lives in 2015 alone. NHTSA leads the national effort to save lives by preventing this dangerous behavior. Get the facts, get involved, and help us keep America’s roads safe

.
https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/distracted-driving

Drivers in the 35 to 44 age group had the highest number of distracted driving convictions (6,715 out of 27,417 convictions, or 24.5 per cent). This was the case for both male and female drivers.

http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-new ... he-numbers

Every year, on average, 26 people are killed in distracted driving-related crashes in the Lower Mainland.

Every year, on average, 8 people are killed in distracted driving-related crashes on Vancouver Island.

Every year, on average, 32 people are killed in distracted driving-related crashes in the Southern Interior.

Every year, on average, 14 people are killed in distracted driving-related crashes in the North Central region.

https://www.insurance-canada.ca/2017/09 ... ng-deaths/

Distracted driving caused most deaths in Ontario last year, say OPP
Inattentive driving was a factor is 65 fatal accidents investigated by the OPP in 2016

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/o ... -1.4019014

The National Safety Council reports that cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes each year. Nearly 330,000 injuries occur each year from accidents caused by texting while driving. 1 out of every 4 car accidents in the United States is caused by texting and driving.

https://www.edgarsnyder.com/car-acciden ... stics.html

[Poindexter]

Common_sense_guy, what if there was a viral game that dared drivers to close thier eyes for 15 seconds everytime a device in thier car beeped? Even you would think anyone who played a game that risked other driver's lives for purely selfish reasons was pretty stupid. Now what would you think if someone was defending this needless game because it didn't kill that many people? Wouldn't you think they were pretty stupid too?

[my5cents]

When people discuss a topic, shouldn't the first item be to define the terminology within the topic ?

If I were to discuss "Dangerous Use of a Hand Tool", we would have to agree on what the definition of "dangerous" and "hand tool". Does a hand tool include a motorized tool or just manual power, does it include one that operates with an explosive charge, such as power actuated fastener.....

So how are you defining "Distracted Driving". I'm sure most think it describes the use of a cell phone, either for texting or conducting an audio phone call by holding the device.

I'm driving along, tuning in my radio, I look up and the line of cars I'm following has stopped and BANG. I honestly tell the investigating officer (if in fact one will come) that I was adjusting the radio,,, that is distracted driving.

(I don't), I'm smoking and I drop my cigarette into my lap and I'm fiddling around trying to recover it and BANG,,, that's distracted driving.

There is a WHOLE lot of misinformation about distracted driving.

For example, the police have basically "opted out" from investigating all but serious collisions. So where are the stats coming from ?

We have a huge problem with traffic collisions, and we allow the police to stop investigating them ???

Does that make sense to anyone ?

How about, the police investigate, do their job AND IF the collision is caused by a violation (they all are) the fine is tripled, and the points are doubled, OR ICBC has designated certain offenses to fall under a more serious category and they assess a "Driver Risk Premium". How about (if they can get the police back doing their job of investigating collisions) assessing the Driver Risk Premium to any violation that results in a collision ?

Of course, that would make sense, so it will never happen. We will continue to allow our police to NOT investigate motor vehicle collisions and just ticket drivers for violations the MIGHT cause collisions, and when they ARE IN a collision, our police won't investigate and no tickets will be issued for violations that actually do cause a collision.

Yup, great way to run a system.

[Jhunter199]

That article talks about actual cell phone use vs distracted driving as cause of death. Distracted driving still caused the death but how can they prove it was a cell phone unless it was in their dead hand in the vehicle. I'm sure there are lots of deaths from cell phone use but they can't record it on the accident report because how would they know for sure so they record it as distracted driving. Then a law firm gets a hold of the statistics and spins it the way they want.
You would have to be an idiot to think that using a cell phone, or doing your makeup or having a dog on your lap while driving does not distract you.

Wouldn't they just look at the phone to see when a message was sent, or when the phone viewed a message, made a phone call, viewed an email? It's pretty easy to tell when a phone was last used.

[jasond_71]

They can look at texts etc. but how are they going to know exactly when the accident occurred? Especially if it's a solo crash. Someone could be looking at a text and not sending it and cause a crash. They could be on the phone but something else caused the crash like conditions etc. There are too many variables to say the phone caused the crash. It's easier just to say " distracted driving" and not mention what the distraction was in the accident. The article wasn't debating the validity of the number of distracted driving deaths just that they were caused by electronic devices.
I'm merely saying that a lot of those were electronic devices but couldn't be proved or maybe ICBC doesn't suponea phone records for every accident.

[AltaRed]

I wouldn't be surprised that vehicle tracking via their navigation GPS is readily obtained by search warrant. Not really that difficult to correlate between cell phone usage and passive tracking. Of course, not all vehicles are yet equipped with GPS.

A lot of fleet vehicle operations, including auto rentals, can and do track their vehicles now. It is only a matter of time before it will be common to correlate usage of electronics with vehicle movements in all vehicles. Real life examples include auto rental agencies being able to tack on an out-of-state surcharge on LA vehicles crossing the state line to Nevada when the renter says s/he didn't do it. I have also heard they also do it in Hawaii when renters take vehicles not allowed on certain roads.

It's apparently a common tool in forensics now to correlate all this data, as it should be. Irresponsible individuals who cause carnage to others, including their own solo incidents need to take responsibility for their actions.

[alanjh595]

I have GPS tracking on my car. I can also have it shut down, and the 4 ways flashing to assist the police. I also have the ability to communicate 2 way to whomever is in the car. That means that I can listen to what is going on in the cabin and have it recorded for future prosecution purposes.

[one wheel]

People have a million things on their minds & have put driving last instead of first. Anyway it won't happen to me I'm a very good driver.