Time to target bad behaviour

Current legislation creates very little motivation for today’s drivers to improve their behavior, says one broker, who writes that it is high time to crack down on all elements of bad driving.

Current legislation creates very little motivation for today’s drivers to improve their behaviour, says one broker, who writes that it is high time to crack down on all elements of bad driving.
 
The irrefutable proof can be found simply by driving or by walking and witnessing the frequency of poor driving, writes Greg Shields, partner at Mitchell & Sandham in Toronto, Ont. Poor driving is made up of any one or (unfortunately) more, of the following:
  1. Low Skill/Ability,
  2. Bad Driving Behaviour, which includes aggressive speed, acceleration, breaking, lane changes and tailgating,
  3. Drugged, Drowsy or Alcohol impaired driving, and,
  4. Device Distracted driving,
We should crack down on all poor driving, but the fight needed to take people off the road who exhibit very little driving skill/ability or bad behaviours, will be a very difficult battle. I am one of the few drivers who remember, and still agrees, that driving is a right, it is a privilege. Canada doesn’t do anywhere near enough to demand good behaviour and good skills. We even glorify or minimize bad behaviour, and no skill: i.e. “Canada’s Worst Driver.”
 
Drugs, alcohol and drowsy impairment are also difficult to fight, but so critical that we need to give more tools and motivation to law enforcement to fight this behaviour.
 
But, Device Distracted driving should be the easiest fix, because it is easy for police to see someone using a device. No breathalyzer, no subjective tests, and no allegations of discrimination. (continued.)
#pb#
 
However, new large fines with the current low level of enforcement will not be a big enough deterrent to change all of the poor driving behaviours. Meaningful change requires two things:
 
1) Very high initial fines that double with each subsequent occurrence and pursued aggressively by law enforcement (which is cash positive for police and not a burden to non-violator), and
 
2) Really good education on all of the negative consequences. The risk of killing someone’s child, or even their own child, is obviously not enough of a deterrent for an incredibly large segment of drivers. So, just like a cigarette package, the horrible results need to be pushed in everyone’s face until the behaviour improves (yes, that even means pictures of car accident victims).
 
But, I don’t think that will be enough. Drivers also need to know exactly what the fines will be, as well as the other financial costs they will face. Most drivers pay very little attention to the horrible reality of auto insurance premiums after a ‘conviction’ (that is what they call it, a conviction, a DUI, a speeding ticket, even a speeding ticket that you successfully fought to no points and a minimal or no fine) or accident (yes, even the no-fault ones). This horrible reality will also be suffered by the non-violator drivers if they reside in the same household as a violator, because insurance companies know there is a good chance the violator will be driving. People don’t like what they pay now, try doubling or tripling it annually for a few years.
 
I had been driving a car, with a clean record more than ten years, (including RED 5L Mustang in high school - yes, paying for gas, insurance and the car almost entirely myself), when I moved to Vancouver and decided to get my motorcycle license. Officially it could have been done in one day, but I was warned that in BC is was almost impossible to pass the test without first taking an in-depth, six-day, classroom and on-bike (closed track and in-traffic) training course. I didn’t even know such a service was available. (continued.)
#pb#
 
Forget passing or failing, this seemed like a no-brainer risk management decision to me, since I was going to be driving on an extremely powerful vehicle, that provides ZERO margin of error when it comes to disability or death, and sharing roads with the people mentioned above (drunk, drugged, distracted, no skill). This was an incredible training course that taught me skills that I still employ today; 20 years later; after having a family, counting up the number of near death experiences, and trading the motorcycle for a trailer.
 
I have started teaching these skills to my children, and my wife and I have fully established their driving boundaries, including:
1) many, many hours behind the wheel of a tractor before getting a license;
2) successful completion of in-depth driving training;
3) Zero device use;
4) Zero Drug (even if our government is stupid enough to make it legal);
5)  Zero Blood Alcohol - until 5 yrs clean driving experience, (but if they make a mistake and have a drink, like I did twice, one call puts mom and me in our car to bring them, car and passengers home safely (but don’t expect much friendly conversation);
6) stupid behaviour by driver or any passengers will mean walking, everywhere, for an extended period;
7) material contribution to the costs of insurance and gas (probably/hopefully solar generated electricity or hydrogen by that point);
8) no motorcycle until five years clean driving experience, and no longer living with us or owing us money, and preferably not in the same time-zone so we don’t know when they are on it (my parents really appreciated that part); and
9) Zero Tolerance (and, I have no obligation for proof or even to provide evidence of an infraction.)
 
But, I have at least 8-11 years to make sure that message is loud and clear; and to create many more new boundaries for behaviours I can’t even contemplate yet (#3 didn’t exist when I started driving; you know, when ‘a computer on every desk and in every home’ elicited great laughter). (continued.)
#pb#
 
Here is the quick fix solution that has worked for me. I have urged my 5 and 8 year old children to immediately reprimand me if I even touch my blackberry or iPod when the car is running. Their speech is always the same, “Dad, please put that down, you may not care for yourself, but you could kill us, or someone else.” They have embraced this role with more vigor than any other request or instruction I have ever given them. And it works. No business activity, no social event, no daycare instruction has a higher value, importance or priority than the health and safety of people in my family or in your family.
 
The longer term fix will be for everyone to wake up to the realities and true costs of poor driving. The privilege of driving should require that every new driver, and every driver who gets a traffic conviction, visit St. Michael’s Hospital emergency room and hear the emergency room nurses’ stories about the losses suffered by car and motorcycle accident victims and their families. Ask the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (Dr. Eric Hoskings in Ontario) to compile and make public the full and exact medical costs to Ontario Taxpayers from traffic accidents based on the contributing causes of that accident.
 
My position is even more polarizing, because I don’t think we should use the term ‘accident’ for at least one side of the majority of traffic injuries. The definitions of ‘accident’ use the terms unforeseen and unintended circumstance usually resulting in injury or loss. This term is often used to excuse behaviour by suggesting the event was unavoidable.
 
But if I decided to attempt juggling for the very first time, and opt for flaming, razor-sharp swords instead of beanbags, are my resulting injuries unforeseen and unintended? No, I would barely get a “too bad for you,” and, to take it up a notch, I should not be allowed to rely on taxpayer funded universal medical care, or make an employment insurance claim. Well, the statics prove that device distracted driving, drugged, drowsy and alcohol impaired driving, and bad driving behaviour, results in traffic injuries and fatalities. If you avoid the bad behaviour, you avoid the negative consequences.
 
 Therefore, if you commit these acts, your actions should be assumed as being foreseen and intended. And if you did commit the act and still arrive safe, that was the accident.
 
 

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