Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/207624
hot topics Driven to Distraction A wakeup call for those who text behind the wheel by Rob Howatson Distracted driving is responsible for about one-quarter of all car-crash fatalities in B.C. And even though the province introduced a ban on hand-held communication and entertainment devices for motorists in 2010, the carnage continues. An average of 91 people are killed each year in B.C. due to driver distractions, such as using electronic devices behind the wheel. Many more victims suffer lifealtering injuries. Howard Chow, an assistant inspector with the Vancouver Police Traffic Section, says the problem is huge and that his fellow officers write 800 tickets per month in the city, but the message does not seem to be altering driver behaviour. "One of my colleagues wrote up a motorist for using an electronic device while driving," says Chow, "and a few minutes later he pulled over the same driver for the same infraction." Drivers in B.C. pay a $167 fine if caught using a hand-held electronic communication device. Hands-free cellphones are legal, except for drivers in the Graduated iStock p35_HotTop.indd 35 Licensing Program. Section 214.2 of the Motor Vehicle Act also prohibits drivers from sending or receiving text messages or email on any type of electronic device, including hands-free ones. Here, however, is where enforcement becomes challenging. A motorist using iPhone's voice-activated Siri system to dictate a text (which is illegal while driving) looks the same to a police officer as a driver talking on a legal handsfree cellphone or simply singing along to the radio. And with carmakers designing speech-to-text systems into their newest vehicles and the first generation of lifelong texters poised to get their driver's licenses in two years' time, distracted driving may be about to go viral. The problem looks even more alarming given the latest research findings coming out of the Center for the Prevention of Distracted Driving (see sidebar). Still, the movement to stop texting at the wheel is underway, thanks to change champions like filmmaker Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man). His most recent documentary, From One Second to the Next, packs an emotional punch, as the victims and perpetrators of distracted-driving crashes describe the fallout from their tragedies. Watch the 35-minute tour de force on YouTube. In B.C., crash survivor Karen Bowman formed Drop It and Drive (dropitanddrive.com) – Canada's only non-profit devoted solely to eliminating distracted driving – in 2010, shortly after B.C. introduced its mobile device law. Since then she and her team have presented their hard-hitting talk to more than 20,000 people at schools and corporate seminars. And this fall, the Vancouver Police Department launched its anti-intextication awareness campaign entirely through social media. The message? Texting while driving is a "stupid combination," much like "shaving while riding a bull." Young people were encouraged to enter their own "stupid combination" examples in a contest through vpd.ca Just Drive, He Said David Strayer is a psychology professor at the University of Utah where he heads up the Center for the Prevention of Distracted Driving. His most recent research, funded by AAA, set off alarm bells in the world of traffic safety. WW Describe the experiment. DS: We had drivers perform different tasks while driving and we used a combination of performance indices to assess their mental workload, including how long it took them to respond to a tiny LED light mounted on their heads via a headband. The tasks ranged from listening to the radio to talking on a hand-held cellphone. WW No texting? DS: No hand-held texting. It was too dangerous, even with cars equipped with a brake for the spotter in the passenger seat. One of the tasks, though, was sending and receiving a text via a voice-operated system. But much to our surprise, this activity turned out to be even more distracting for the driver than using the handheld cellphone. In fact, text by voice was the greatest cognitive distraction of the eight tasks studied. We had participants drive by schools as they sent texts, while cameras inside the cars showed how they scanned the route ahead. One thing that alarmed us is that when people came to an intersection while doing speech-texting, they were significantly less likely to check for pedestrians in the crosswalk. We would activate the LED light hanging inches in front of their face and they wouldn't even see it. Simply put, handsfree does not mean risk-free. WW How are carmakers responding to these new findings? DS: They aren't. They are still locked in a kind of arms race in which every car manufacturer is rushing to equip their vehicles with the latest infotainment devices . . . I bought a car recently and the salesperson boasted about the vehicle's dashboard system and how we could update our Facebook page while driving down the road. WW What's needed to change behaviour? DS: More research, more regulations and more awareness — the same things that changed society's attitudes towards drinking and driving. • Westworld >> w i n t e r 2 0 1 3 35 13-10-25 11:27 AM