Submitted by CedricHughes on Mon, 04/14/2008 - 11:32
On Monday August 28, 2006, just before noon, 42-year-old Bloc Québécois MP Benoît Sauvageau drove his car full speed—there were no signs of braking—into a tow truck parked on the side of a road in Repentigny, east of Montreal. According to news reports, the car was mangled, Mr. Sauvageau’s ribcage was crushed and he died later in hospital. The circumstances prompted rumours of suicide but the coroner’s report issued a year later found that talking with his wife on his cell phone had distracted Mr. Sauvageau. His wife described for the coroner hearing a sound like something heavy dropping into water, and then, she said, the phone went dead. A witness reported he saw the car pick up speed …through a yellow light and that “the driver was leaning over toward the passenger seat.”
Between 2000 and 2006, Quebec's coroner's office reported at least 24 deaths in which cell phone use was a factor in the crash. Mr. Sauvageau’s death highlighted the issue and helped galvanize efforts to address the problem. Effective April 1st, 2008 Quebec has followed the lead of Newfoundland and Labrador in outlawing handheld cell phone use while driving. Nova Scotia has also enacted a similar law effective the same date.
In Quebec, police are saying they will hand out warnings instead of fines for the first three months. Thereafter the fine on top of demerit points will be up to $100. In Nova Scotia, the fine for a first offence is $164.50, $222 for a second violation, and $337 for subsequent offences with no introductory grace period. In Newfoundland and Labrador, fines on top of demerit points can reach $400.
But, a debate continues. Some safety advocates argue the handheld qualification distracts from the real issue. Raynald Marchand of the Canada Safety Council has been quoted as saying: “Studies are showing that [cell phones are] not the problem. …The problem is the degree of the distraction, whether it's hand-held or hands-free. Hands-free is not distraction-free.” Mr. Marchand and other safety advocates worry this stopping-short approach will give drivers a “false sense of security”. Bloggers, on the other hand, write lists of other distracting activities taunting “the nanny state” to take these on too.
Practicalities also raise difficulties. Audio devices hand-held or otherwise (like cell phones) are and have been trade tools for many years—long before mass proliferation created the current situation—for commercial drivers like truckers and taxi drivers. The police object to full bans as impossible to enforce. Bloggers also weigh in on this issue noting that in Newfoundland the law is “widely ignored [because it is] rarely enforced.” One person writes, “it's impossible to drive here for more than a few minutes without seeing someone openly using a phone while driving.”
The ban has been in effect in Newfoundland since April 2003, and 831 convictions have been recorded. Interestingly, there is some suggestion that recent statistics may be interpreted to show that the law reduced collisions by 8% between 2003 and 2005.
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