Banning the use of cellphones while driving makes sense

Friday, January 28, 2011

THE amendments to the Road Traffic Act being pursued by the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) cannot be implemented too soon. Because if the changes result in the preservation of just one life, they will be worth it.

The NRSC, therefore, has our full support in its push for a ban on the use of cellphones while driving, a most dangerous practice that has left many people across the world in mourning.

No one can successfully challenge that both activities are reckless. Recent research in the United States shows that 81 per cent of the population there admit to texting while driving, despite being well aware of its dangers.

There is a feeling in that country — driven mostly by the number of deaths — that the problem has reached epidemic proportions.

In fact, at the United Nations' 64th General Assembly last year, the US representative reported that 6,000 persons were killed and more than 500,000 injured on their roads in 2009 due to what is termed as distracted driving, particularly text messaging.

After sharing the data, he issued a most sober warning which we would all do well to heed: "If we do not act, the problem will only grow worse as the number of vehicles on our roadways rises, and communication technologies such as cellphones and texting devices become even more widely available."

The General Assembly has declared the years 2011-2020 the Decade of Action for Road Safety, "with the goal of stabilising and eventually reducing the number of deaths and injuries".

That, we submit, is an extremely important goal, for the statistics on road fatalities and injuries contained in a report presented to the General Assembly are staggering.

Consider this: Nearly 1.3 million deaths and between 20 million and 50 million injuries result from road crashes annually. The report also said that "road traffic injuries remain among the three leading causes of death for people between five and 44 years of age, and the resulting injuries cost an estimated [US]$518 billion globally". They are also costing governments between one per cent and three per cent of their gross national product and "continue to threaten health and development gains around the world".

Road crashes, the report added, "are predicted to become the fifth leading global cause of death by 2030, unless immediate action is taken".

Against that background, it behoves us to give strong support to the efforts of the NRSC to encourage better road safety practices and reduce fatalities, regardless of the inconvenience many of us may experience by not taking a call while driving.

If the call is extremely important, the sensible thing to do is to pull over, stop the vehicle in a spot where it is not blocking traffic and take the call. The people who believe that there is no harm in driving and using their cellphone at the same time should consider the fact that the distraction caused by attempting to do two activities simultaneously significantly limits the chances of getting through both of them.

We have no doubt that any legislation banning the use of cellphones while driving will attract a lot of resistance in Jamaica. We saw it when the seatbelt law was introduced. However, we all should bear in mind that a life lost in such circumstances can have impact well beyond that individual.

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Banning the use of cellphones while driving makes sense