Distracted Driving - Just A Cash Grab?

[Masked Bandit]

So I was doing a little reading on the topic and I'm wondering if distracted driving really is the great big "boogey man" that current government & police make it out to be. 20 years ago there weren't nearly as many people talking on the phone in their vehicles. Most people were just starting to get into cell phones in the early 1990's so logic says that the collision rates should have been much lower back then.

http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/roadsafety/tp-1317.htm#2

When in fact, they have done nothing but go down in the last 20 years. So what the hell? To me, that looks like the explosion of electronics hasn't been an issue. Everyone and their dog was talking on the phone in the car up until a year or two ago and the collision rates have done nothing but drop. It doesn't look like the distracted driving legislation was needed at all. Just a giant cash grab. I suspect that the idiots who couldn't handle talking on the phone and driving will be just as distracted and useless behind the wheel without their phone. Some people are just bad drivers, period.

[sr20s14zenki]

What i dont like about it, is the fact that it's another law that leaves it up to the officer to make the decision on weather you were distracted driving or not. When its a speeding ticket, his radar gun spits out a number, if its higher than the speed limit, you get a ticket...cut and dry. What an officer considers weaving in and out of traffic, or wandering in your lane could be one lane change, or one quick blip of the wheel while you change the station or something. Same thing with BS exhaust ticket law. Up to the officer's discretion. Bullshit.

That being said, i have seen MANY people that are deserving of distracted driving tickets, and it wasnt even their phone. I remember one morning this lady was weaving left and right in her lane in front of me, doing like 90 on deerfoot. Upon passing her, i made note that she was reading a novel....yes...a novel. Another one, was makeup, same thing, weaving, going slow. Then you get johnny text a lot, that likes to text at red lights, and is completely oblivious that the light turned green 10 seconds ago........

[Unknown303]

I'd say it's obviously a cash grab. If you can get a ticket for looking at your cellphone while driving shouldn't we be getting tickets for changing stations on our radio or looking at a passenger too long. It's a bandaid for a real problem improper training and upkeep on the training program.

[Masked Bandit]

I guess I should also add that I'm not arguing the fact that being "distracted" puts you at a higher risk of a collision. I think it absolutely does. But does the increase (when appropriate) warrant the current hate-on for cell phone use. Does a change from 1 in 1000 to 3 in 1000 truly warrant this kind of public outcry? Like all things in life, there is a time & a place for everything. If I'm in congested stop & go traffic on Deerfoot, you can bet that the road has my full attention. But when I'm on a four lane road with nobody around me (think Southbound Macleod between 162 Ave & 194 Ave), is it really as crucial? I just think it's going a bit overboard. If & when I hit something, give me a ticket for Driving Without Due Care or Careless Driving and charge me a $500 fine. I'm okay with that.

[speedog]

Probably a huge contributing factor to the reduced death/injury rates is the safety of the vehicles we're now driving. I don't know about the rest of you but the 2012 model I'm currently driving is a considerably safer vehicle then what would've been an equivalent in it's class in 1991 - most vehicles sold in the last year or so come equipped with multiple airbags (mine has 10 standard), stability control, traction control and ABS and many have the availability of lane departure warnings, collision alerts, TPMS and more.

So to surmise that declining accident/ injury/death rates might mean that distracted driving is just a cash grab - yeah, that's a bit of a stretch.

[e31]

Collision rates are on the downfall, so the cops arguably needed to legislate something else as illegal to fill their quotas. I have no problem with this because it is sensible to punish negative behavior.

My problem is with Insurance industry. Police officers may have the discretion to hand out fines indiscriminately but they still have to answer to the law. Insurance adjusters don't have this oversight, and their "rules" and decisions are often contrary to common sense/law.

[Ca_Silvia13]

This and the lower BAC law is quite frustrating when you start looking at the facts. It's quite obvious they were made to generate additional revenue through the police.

[Masked Bandit]

Originally posted by speedog
Probably a huge contributing factor to the reduced death/injury rates is the safety of the vehicles we're now driving. I don't know about the rest of you but the 2012 model I'm currently driving is a considerably safer vehicle then what would've been an equivalent in it's class in 1991 - most vehicles sold in the last year or so come equipped with multiple airbags (mine has 10 standard), stability control, traction control and ABS and many have the availability of lane departure warnings, collision alerts, TPMS and more.

So to surmise that declining accident/ injury/death rates might mean that distracted driving is just a cash grab - yeah, that's a bit of a stretch.

That's a fair statement, but in the same light, is the reason for the decline in the collision rate purely due to advancement in vehicle safety features? Probably not. Again though back to my original point, I don't think distracted driving is the true world evil sin that society seems to think it is.

[Maxt]

It seems to me the problem got worse because of the law.. People would need to dial a number or something and you would see someone holding up the phone in their line of sight so they could do the task and continue driving.. Now people are trying to hide the phone and staring downwards and they are now totally distracted instead of partially.

[big A]

Your first post ALMOST makes it sound like you think they should allow people to text while driving down the road.
I'm glad you elaborated in your next text. I agree with that one. I set up my music before I leave for work, but if while I am at a red light , I want to switch songs, I will reach over and swipe and hit a button.

The cash grab that I would love to see reinforced is, $1000 for throwing out your cigarette butt.

I don't think there has been a ticket issued yet because if there was it would have made the front page of the Sun with Mr. sad face holding up his ticket in one hand and a butt in the other and the editor telling the story about how terrible Calgary's police force is out to get the working man who just needs to unstress after a hard days work

It would probably be beneficial just to have one person employed to watch for this (like a traffic division). He would just need one catch to pay for the days wage and car. A second to head into profit and after that would be bonus or something for a pool for the next time Nose Hill catches on fire from a Butt.

I know I see at least three to and from work every day.

[Sugarphreak]

In all honesty I think some people are able to use a phone while driving and not be distracted. Some people can do it naturally, some people work out of their cars and it is a learned skill.

That said there are those (myself included to some extent) that can't. It is just unfortunate that a small group of those people are unable to exercise self discipline have resulted in the creation of this law that punishes everybody.

Even worse is that the intent of the law is not being followed, instead of nabbing the people who are a public danger, tickets are being handed out to people who pull over to make a call, or who take an important call while driving, or who dare to look at their phone while stopped at a light... basically a huge amount of otherwise safe behavior is being punished.

Purpose of the law is to catch that idiot who is nearly hitting the curb or weaving around while trying to text message.

[speedog]

Considering that a few of us on beyond have been driving way before many beyond members were but even a wet dream, I can safely say that there is much, much more in the way of distractions that a driver can willingly interact with in 2012 than there was in the 70's.

Now is stuff actually distracting people - yeah, for sure it is. Every day I can see it around me and I'm even guilty of it. Statistically though, accident and the associated injury/death rates are down but I can reassure everyone that the 1968 Chev half ton that I learned to drive in had virtually no fucking distractions - there was a simple AM radio and that was it. No GPS, no handheld cell phone, no touch screen this or that, etc, etc, etc.. You got in the damn thing and you just drove. There was no taking a phone call, there was no checking or making a text message, there was no screwing around with the DVD entertainment system for the kids and if anyone thinks they can do any of that shit without being distracted from the task of driving, then they're just fooling themselves.

I am all to ready to admit that dinking around on my cell phone no matter what the driving conditions are around me means that I am going to be distracted - a look away for 2 seconds can mean a deer bounding up in front of me because I've moved over 180 feet down that highway at 100kph. 180 feet of me being distracted on Deerfoot with a teenager texting like mad two lanes over could be the death of us both.

[speedog]

And what of the distracted people at the red lights who've got the tunes turned up and are doing the text/message shit and don't notice that emergency vehicle trying to get through - have seen this time and time again. Now I'm not saying that loud tunes isn't a part of the cause here but when you add in a head looking down instead of looking around, well that's distraction, isn't it?

[bmeier]

Its a stupid law. I could easily be distracted by looking at the various shops, women, cars in etc on or beside the road too. Texting while driving on deerfoot trail is stupid but I'm not sure we need a law for it... Then again maybe the problem isn't the law but the police that enforce it. Sitting at a light checking your email is pretty harmless in my opinion

[speedog]

Originally posted by bmeier
I could easily be distracted by looking at the various shops, women, cars in etc on or beside the road too.

They could use the current 'driving without due care and attention" statute for this.

[01RedDX]

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[speedog]

Originally posted by 01RedDX
It's analogous to forcing all women walking on 17th Ave. to cover up in the summer time. Distracted driving ticket = causing a distraction ticket?

Nope, a 'stunting' ticket could be issued in the case of the women you're referring to.

And besides that, some of them possibly should be covered up, no?

[Unknown303]

Rather than chasing people around for this crap just to make some money they should be going after people breaking more important laws.

[gretz]

Every phonecall i make is an emergency, so i still use my phone while i drive. Although my car is a 1992, i dont think my chances of an accident would decrease if the car was new, if for some reason i am "distracted" to the point i was in an accident, i doubt the 2014 year of the car is going to savr the day.

These are more tickets that are issued without circumstance, like speeeding in a sense. No victims... entirely a preventetive measure, but people.still do it when they want. Knowing youll get a $$$ ticket is not a deterrant, as people will still do it as they dont feel they are endagering themselves or others. If drivers feel like they are a danger due to theor habits, they realize and adjust (like not.doing 110 when there is a foot of snow / ice on the roads but driving to the conditions). We have some common sense, let us use it. People also learn from their mistakes, thats where most life lessons are learned. Not saying let people be bumper cars, but when people stop thinking for.themselves, we end up with.... well.... next gen of kids, who im frightened for

[speedog]

Distracted driving law came onto being some 2 years ago and personally I know of no one that has received one of those tickets. At the same time, I also know no one that has received a stunting or 'driving without due care and attention' ticket during that time frame as well - maybe it's the crowd I hang with although I do interact with a lot of university/college aged people.

My last ticket under any of those three statutes was way back in 1982 and I fully deserved the stunting ticket I got because I was being a damn jackass in my car at the time and did do something that certainly wasn't called for or needed. But I was willing to admit it then just as much as I am now and maybe that's the problem here in that so many think that what they're doing is above reproach.