MONCTON, NB — It includes texting, talking on the phone, eating, searching for a new song and talking to a friend in the passengers seat.
Distracted driving is the everyday norm for most drivers — 95 percent to be exact, according to a recent survey by Allstate Canada.
“We’ve actually seen a decrease in distracted driving through cellphones and texting however it’s still at an unacceptable level,” said David Vautour, officer in charge of operations at Codiac RCMP.
The survey says everything we already know: a distracted driver is a problem.
And Pierre Boudreau knows what happens as a result. Many know him as a Moncton city councillor, but he’s also the father of a victim of distracted driving.
“Somebody who was texting just plowed into her. They say they were going 80kms an hour,” he said.
It happened five years ago. Boudreau’s daughter was nineteen at the time. He said she’s always been strong – but that strength was tested after the accident.
“She went from being a competitive athlete, synchronized swimmer, snowboarder, horse back rider. She was a violinist. All of those things she has not been able to resume since the accident.”
“The only time I’ve ever seen her cry, truly cry, was about a year after the accident when she realized that it might not get better and then she broke down,” he said.
She’ll be in chronic pain for the rest of her life, but Boudreau says the fact she survived is a miracle.
The survey shows that this behaviour is common among drivers, the most common distraction being eating and drinking and 77 per cent; looking at passengers when speaking to them at 51 per cent; playing the radio excessively loud at 45 per cent; texting at 35 per cent and adjusting the radio or a music player at 33 per cent.
Habits that can make your driving noticeably dangerous.
“What happened to me the other day is that I was following a car and I thought that the person was grossly intoxicated,” said Vautour. “I happened to stop the vehicle and it was a matter of distracted driving through texting. The driving was absolutely atrocious.”
July has the highest percentage of fatal collisions in many Canadian jurisdictions.
Allstate says it’s because the roads are clear, weather’s often nice and sunny – tempting conditions for multi-tasking behind the wheel.
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