Police in Ontario are pleading with drivers to focus on the road, as new statistics show distracted driving is causing more collisions than speeding and impaired driving combined.
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Ontario Provincial Police statistics show there have been 6,360 collisions on the roads they patrol since Jan. 1, compared with 4,700 collisions due to speeding and 1,158 crashes due to drug or alcohol-impaired driving.
At least 47 people have died from the distracted-driving crashes, which often involve people using their phones to talk or send text messages. That鈥檚 up from 39 over the same period of time in 2016.
OPP Sgt. Dave Rektor tells CTV News Channel that despite years of education about fines related to distracted driving, 鈥渄rivers still feel this right to pick up the cellphone and talk on it while they鈥檙e driving, or even texting.鈥�
He says officers are catching people frequently who are so distracted that they don鈥檛 even realize there is a fully-marked cruiser driving beside them, trying to pull them over.
It鈥檚 not just phones that are a concern, he says.
鈥淲e have everything from pets on laps, to people reading books, reading maps while they鈥檙e driving, putting on makeup, shaving,鈥� he adds. 鈥淥ne time 鈥� I pulled over a driver for playing a trumpet while driving.鈥�
It may sound funny, he says, but it鈥檚 no joke. 鈥淚t鈥檚 those mistakes that are killing people on the highway.鈥�
鈥楬ands-free鈥� deceptively dangerous
Sgt. Rektor says that although using hands-free phone systems while driving is not illegal, studies have shown hands-free conversations can also dangerously distract.
found that hands-free phone conversations create so much competition for the brain鈥檚 鈥渧isual processing capacity鈥� that drivers take far longer to notice obstacles on the road.
