‘People will go to great lengths to save time’: the cost of distracted driving

LETHBRIDGE – From eating a bowl of soup while driving with one knee, to styling hair and putting on make-up while stopped at a red light and the famous one of course, texting while passing through traffic – Lethbridge Regional Police have seen it all.

“People will go to great lengths to save time, even at the cost of safety,” said Sgt. Wade Davidson with the traffic response unit.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "People will go to great lengths to save time, even at the cost of safety," said Sgt. Wade Davidson with the traffic response unit.

Even four years after the distracted driving legislation was introduced in Alberta, more tickets are being handed out than ever before. Police have issued 1,670 tickets in the city, compared to the 1,445 they gave out in 2014.

“We’re getting better at catching distracted drivers. Not only is there more public awareness about it, but there’s more officer awareness about it,” added Davidson.

The province is beefing up the deterrents by adding demerits to the penalty of those caught not paying attention, which will come into effect January 1, 2016.

The question is…will this help the problem?

According to the province, 30 per cent of collisions are caused by distracted driving. However, Davidson believes that number is actually much higher.

“Most of our collisions in the city that are simply people not paying attention to their driving, I’m sure many more of those involve distraction than we can ever prove.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Most of our collisions in the city that are simply people not paying attention to their driving, I'm sure many more of those involve distraction than we can ever prove."

He said if a hefty ticket and demerits do not scare distracted drivers, perhaps they should consider the bigger cost of being unsafe behind the wheel, killing themselves or someone else.