WHEN ACCIDENTS ARE NOT ACCIDENTS
“ When someone is distracted by a handheld device and collides with someone or something else, it is no longer accidental.”
certainty. There was no bad weather causing dangerous road conditions. There was no equipment failure that made stopping impossible. There was no random impact by space debris that may have triggered the events.
My daily one-way commute is thirty kilometers. I drive that route two times a day, five days a week. I am becoming increasingly frustrated by the frequency at which I observe commuters and professional drivers alike texting and talking on hand-held devices. Concerning the events from this morning, I believe at least two drivers were distracted. I can’ t say with certainty that there was a hand-held device involved, but I suspect that inattention and distraction were at play in both collisions.
I was late by 15 minutes. My fault- I slept in. But there are four insurance claims open today because of the vehicles involved in these accidents. Traffic was worse because four cars were off the road but too close to the lane of travel to allow a normal rate of speed for everyone else passing by and of course, everyone needed to have a look. Is it fair to suggest these two collisions were intentional or expected? I guess if we do, it sounds awfully judgmental. But if they could have been avoided can we still call them accidental?
I will say this. When someone is distracted by a hand-held device and collides with someone or something else, it is no longer accidental. It is absolutely dangerous driving, and the distraction is one of willful intent.
So, hang it up, stow it, or connect to the hands-free system in your car. With no intended disrespect to anyone, we are not that important, nor is the conversation. We should not put everyone on the road around us in danger.
If you own a fleet, or you are a business owner and you communicate with your employees while they are heading to a job site or meeting, you should be telling them ahead of time to safely pull off the road before they respond to you on a two-way device or cell phone. In fact, an employer that has a workforce that uses company cars or its own vehicles for work should be writing into the employee policies and procedures manual a standard for using a hand-held device while driving, period. You should get a sign-off from your employees that they understand they are not to be operating a vehicle while texting, emailing, phoning or googling. If you are the type of boss who demands an
instant response when you call staff while they are on the road, you could be endangering your staff and other motorists.
I have been very impressed to see how diligent the younger generation has been when dealing with drinking and driving. The idea of a designated driver or taking a bus or ride sharing when heading out on the town is not even a second thought for the twentysomethings I know. In fact, the younger generation are downright incensed when they hear of someone getting behind the wheel after just a couple of drinks. Unfortunately, 71 % of young Canadian drivers polled don’ t consider using their phones while driving to be“ very distracting” and the statistics bear this out. More collisions, injuries and fatalities are happening now as a result of distracted driving than from impaired driving.
Accidents that happen because we do not pay attention to our surroundings are avoidable. The truth is, those sorts of accidents should be expected, should be deemed intentional and really should not be considered chance incidents.
By definition, an accident involving a distracted driver is simply not an accident. +
DISTRACTED DRIVING
BY: TIM TOKRUD COMMERCIAL LINES MANAGER AND PARTNER AT GIFFORD ASSOCIATES
FALL 2016 | 31