The car coming towards me on Government Road the other day was acting strangely. It would slowly meander into the wrong lane (the one I was currently occupying), and then it would veer back into its own lane with a sudden and jerky movement. I hugged the shoulder of the road as our vehicles passed, and sure enough, when I looked over, the other driver had her cellphone held firmly on the steering wheel where she was reading what I’ll assume were texts. As I continued down the road to downtown Squamish, the next two cars I passed were being driven by people gabbing on their phones as well. This, during a month when RoadSafety B.C is conducting a public consultation about distracted driving and whether penalties for the offence should be increased.
Here’s my submission to the process: Hell, yes. Increase the fines for distracted driving. In fact, forget fines. People caught driving while texting or using their phones should be pulled out of their vehicles and publically flogged. And that’s what I’d suggest for a first offence. Don’t even get me started on repeat offenders. Right now, B.C. has the second lowest fines in the country for distracted driving at $167, and that’s probably why nobody takes it seriously.
But folks, what the heck is wrong with people that they just don’t get it? I mean, in my own humble opinion, people in B.C. are the worst drivers in the country, so they’re the last people who should be paying less attention while behind the wheel. And is your conversation or writing “lol” in response to friend’s witty remark really worth potentially killing or seriously injuring another person? Obviously it must be, or some 50,000 tickets for distracted driving wouldn’t have been handed out in 2014 in B.C. (up by a couple thousand from 2013).
So, do we actually need a consultation on this? Is anyone arguing that we need to lower the fines?
We know texting while driving kills people. That’s a fact. Get it? People have died. Children have died. I can show you the news stories.
So, please, think about what you’re doing when you’re behind the wheel… and get off the damn phone.
