Ontario PC MPP John O'Toole has, for the third time since 2000, introduced a private member's bill to ban the use of hand-held cellphones by drivers of motor vehicles.
Should the Progressive Conservatives form the government in Ontario after the 2007 election, which is not beyond the realm of belief, Ontarians can be assured that the nanny state that they seem to love so much will be alive and well. Let's face it --Conservative leader John Tory is a Red Tory and no one would mistake him for Mike Harris or any other real "conservative" in a dark alley. and there are enough Conservatives like O'Toole to keep legislation that takes away the rights of citizens coming. In fairness to Dalton McGuinty, even he, whose government once considered banning non-pre-frozen sushi from the province's restaurants, isn't crazy about the cellphone ban.
The latest attempt to prohibit drivers from using cellphones while driving follows the death of Cassandra Read. Read was driving on a particularly dangerous stretch of road north of Toronto when she lost control of her vehicle and ended up in the Holland Marsh. Both she and her 4-year-old son died. and Read had been talking to a friend on her phone when the accident occurred.
as tragic as that accident was, it does not justify the proposed cellphone ban. O'Toole's private member's bill is nothing more than feel good legislation that targets an inanimate object and deprives responsible people of another right. We live in an era where legislators justify their existence by passing more and more laws to mini-regulate the lives of their constituents. When are people going to finally say enough is enough?
The public face of the Ontario Provincial Police, Sgt. Cam Woolley, star of stage, screen and holiday weekend blitzes, has seen enough accidents to have expertise in the subject matter. Woolley is not excited about the proposed legislative ban either and his reasoning why such a law is not needed is sure to bring fear into the hearts of legislators everywhere. according to Woolley, the ban is simply not necessary.
as Sgt. Woolley has pointed out, the provincial Highway Traffic act contains the offence of careless driving. That section, in part, makes it an offence to drive "on a highway without due care and attention". Being distracted due to a driver being engaged in a cellphone conversation is the type of conduct that is covered by that section. The offence of careless driving is one of the more serious non-criminal driving offences. The penalties upon conviction are a fine of between $200 and $1000 or up to six months in jail or both. as well, a person who is convicted of careless driving can have his or her license suspended for up to two years. and if there is no license suspension the convicted driver receives six demerit points; only fail to remain at the scene of an accident and fail to stop for police are higher at seven. assuming there is no jail sentence which is hardly ever imposed, the real penalty for careless driving comes in the higher cost of insurance after conviction. If these penalties are not felt to be a sufficient deterrence, the penalties can always be increased.
The focus on cellphones ignores all the other things that are present in automobiles that can lead to driver distraction--having an animated conversation with a passenger, screaming kids in the back seat, and, since cup holders are now standard in vehicles, drinking hot beverages and eating the gooey doughnuts that go so well with them. aiming laws at cellphones instead of the actions of drivers may give legislators something to do; they can look forward to new laws about drinking coffee and talking to passengers, but banning cellphone use by drivers is not the way to go.
If driver cellphone use is banned, many people may not feel the need to have a phone in a car. The ability to be able to call for an ambulance immediately upon witnessing an accident, rather than searching out a phone can sometimes mean the difference between life and death. Impaired drivers can be taken off the roads by other driver's being able to call police from their vehicles. It makes much more sense to ban drinking and eating by drivers than it does to ban cellphone use.
Would anyone really have felt better if the accident that resulted in the deaths of Cassandra Read and her son had occurred if Read had been eating a hamburger instead of talking on a cellphone? The issue is driving; not cellphones.
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