Cellphone users in cars are dialing for death

CALLING ALL DRIVERS WHO USE THEIR CELLPHONE ILLEGALLY... I read a comment under a Free Press story last week that I liked.

It was about a CAA Manitoba members' survey that suggests illegal cellphone use while driving is still out of control, two years after the law was enacted.

And that for CAA members, who are generally an older demographic, distracted driving has become their No. 1 road safety concern.

The comment I liked read: "No call or text is more important than the safety of my family or the people driving around me. If I am awaiting an important call, I will pull over or else have my kids answer my phone for me. I decided that no call I may receive even really warrants buying a Bluetooth."

I don't know how many of you have had close calls with distracted cellphone users, but I've had both kinds.

I've watched someone else drive through a red light while using a cellphone.

And I've done it myself.

The first episode happened on a summer weekend a year ago at Fermor Avenue, where Osborne Street meets Dunkirk Drive. I was stopped at Osborne, waiting to turn left onto Fermor. And in the distance coming toward me on Dunkirk Drive, I could see a young woman driver on her cellphone. I sensed by the speed she was going that she wasn't going to stop when her light turned red.

And she didn't.

I honked as she passed, in hopes it would wake her up to what she had just done.

She laughed.

My sense of it was she was laughing at herself because she had realized what she should have realized; that the light was changing and she could have killed herself or someone else.

I don't recall if it was before or after that, but early one evening, again in summer, I was driving along Main Street and using my Bluetooth-enabled cellphone to talk to my wife, when... Yikes!

I realized I'd driven part way through the intersection of Main and McDermot Avenue on a red light. Fortunately, the traffic was light, so I was able to safely stop and back up.

Of course, there was a difference between what the young woman did and what I did. She was holding a cellphone while driving, which is illegal. I was using mine on my hands-free mode, which isn't illegal. But as evidenced by what happen, hands-free can be just as distracting and dangerous as hands-on.

So what's the answer to stopping a deadly problem that's out of control?

Harsher penalties, of course, and the province is looking at that. But so far a fine of $199.80 hasn't worked, and I suspect imposing demerits on driver's licences won't make much difference, either, because no one seems to think they'll get caught. Or even care.

Someone else who commented on last week's story suggested imposing six-month driver's licence suspensions, because distracted driving is in the same category, danger-wise, as drunk driving. I like that idea but it's unlikely to happen.

Which brings us to more enforcement. More cops doing more enforcement and raising more money for the city. Of course, there's one other alternative. We could all start obeying the law and stop using our cellphones while driving. And hands-free units, too.

The problem is, most of us are so juiced on go-go-go we can't even come to a full stop at intersections when we're supposed to. But please, don't get me started on stop signs again.

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QUESTION AND ANSWER... I was curious about how Vince Li was doing following his first public interview in the four years since he killed fellow Greyhound bus passenger Tim McLean while in a psychotic state. So I asked Schizophrenia Society of Canada CEO Chris Summerville, the man who conducted the interview last May.

"Vince has been empowered by being able to speak for himself," Summerville replied via email. "Just being able to say that he is sorry and would like Ms. (victim's mother, Carole) de Delley to know of his remorse has been healing. His wife has seen this as being therapeutic to his sense of well-being."

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THANK YOU, HERB... It's been nearly 25 years since former Winnipeg police chief Herb Stephen and I became estranged by an historic event that led to the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry. So it happened that last week, before the memorial service for former mayor Bill Norrie began, Herb made a point of walking four pews back and shaking my hand. We didn't exchange any more than "how-are-yous," and I didn't read anything more into it than it was simply an opportune moment. But it was a most-appreciated gesture and I felt the need to acknowledge him publicly for his graciousness.

gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 17, 2012 B1