Cross-Canada fatalities for week of June 26 to July 2 year's highest

by Cindy Smith
Editor

Forty-four Canadians are dead in just seven days in what has been the deadliest week so far this year on Canadian roads.

The second highest fatality rate occurred during the week of May 29 to June 4 when 43 Canadians died in road tragedies.

Two-thirds of these crashes were head-on type collisions proving (well to me anyway) that driver distraction must be on the rise. It's not clear how many of these crashes were caused by "intextification", a term coined by mobile users to describe those who text message on cellphones and smart phones (such as a Blackberry) while driving. The word is a play off of intoxication.

RELATED
Intextication poised to become the leading cause of road fatalities, pushing alcoholic impairment further down the list

In Quebec, where I was able to obtain the most current statistics, of the 717 people who were killed in crashes in 2006, 291 of those were head-on type crashes involving two motor vehicles traveling in opposite directions. Of the 291 fatalities, 147 of them happened in dry, clear weather.

When alcohol and driver fatigue has proven not to be factors in head-on type collisions, collision reconstructionists look at other factors beginning with road conditions. When I interviewed a leading collision reconstructionist with the provincial police service (SQ) in Quebec, he told me that more and more his team is now turning their attention to cellphone use at the time of the crash, especially if weather couldn't have possibly been a contributing factor.

When the roads are dry and the weather is clear and a vehicle is proven to have been mechanically fit, there is often no clear reason why any driver would leave their lane unless that driver was distracted in some way. The same scenario applies to crashes where drivers ran stop signs and red lights. The only reason why all drivers miss stops signs and lights in clear, dry weather is because they didn't notice. Their focus had to have been on something else other than the road. Talking and dialing a cellphone is just as dangerous as texting.

Considering eight out of every 10 Canadian drivers own a cellphone, I think it's safe to assume why many crashes where drivers have crossed the center line are happening.

Recently, the sister of a man killed in a crash where police blamed a woman talking on her cellphone while speeding along a Hamilton street, told the media that talking on a cellphone and causing a fatality is "just a part of life".

There is no such thing as being a skilled driver with a cellphone glued to one ear and one hand on the wheel. These people do not exist. It’s nothing to be proud of if you’ve managed to make it home each day after texting, dialing, talking and driving. It’s deadly. People’s lives are at risk, not just your own.

Do we really need to continue on this slippery slope? How many more people have to die before drivers realize that the only thing a driver should be doing in a car is driving.