A few weeks ago, Edmonton’s city council had a vote to determine if using a cell phone while driving should be illegal. The outcome was 7-6 against making it a law, but it helped underscore that people are getting the impression that chatting on the phone takes some of your attention away from where it should be: on the road.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NTHSA), legitimate concerns are now being raised as cell phones have transformed the automobile into a secondary work environment. In places where laws do not preclude the use of a cell phone while driving, like Alberta, they estimate that driver distraction is responsible for 25 to 35 per cent of police-reported crashes.
To combat the increasingly “connected” driving public, more than 30 countries have outright banned the use of cell phones while driving. Here in Canada, the province of Newfoundland and Labrador followed suit in April of 2003.
Tim Horsman is on Slave Lake’s Safe Community Task Force. He feels that even if Alberta is not ready to pass similar legislation, people need to start behaving more intelligently behind the wheel.
“Personally, I think I’m like most people who have cell phones. I have used my cell in my vehicle before,” says Horsman. “I make a conscious effort to try not to and pull over for the conversation or say ‘I’m driving now, I should get going.’ I try (to) use it as little as possible because I’m fully aware that it distracts me. I don’t care who you are, or where you’re from. One way or another, cell phones are a distraction.
“An example I often use is when I’m driving around town and there is someone that sees me every single time and waves. Another time they’ll be driving by and talking on their cell. I’ll give a little wave, and they won’t even know I’m there. That alone says to me that their attention is not all around them.”
While Slave Lake may have implemented a no smoking law before the province did, Horsman does not believe the cell phone debate should follow the same path.
“I think the majority of people will tell you that their full attention is not on the road when their using their cell phone but I believe it’s a provincial issue.”
“Making people in this community more aware of the dangers of driving while talking on the cell is one thing, but enforcing a law for it would be totally different.”

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