Texting and driving getting worse, says CAA survey

OTTAWA, ON. (NEWS 1130) – A survey suggests most Canadians believe texting and driving is getting worse despite police crackdowns and extensive public education efforts.

In the November survey conducted by the Canadian Automobile Association, 83 per cent of respondents said they believe texting while driving is a bigger problem now than it was three years ago.

The CAA survey also shows a whopping 96 per cent of respondents say drivers who text and drive are a threat to their safety on the road and that texting and driving is now tied with drunk driving as the top road safety concern among Canadians.

The CAA also says other forms of distraction are increasingly an issue, such as emailing while driving, drivers talking on cell phones and drivers talking to or interacting with their in-car technologies.

The survey of 2,003 Canadians has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.19 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

“Despite anti-texting and driving laws in all provinces across the country and several years of public education campaigns, Canadians still don’t seem to be getting the message,” said CAA chief strategy officer Jeff Walker.

“Studies show drivers are as much as 23 times more likely to get into a collision when they text and drive. It’s important we all put our devices down and stay focused on the road,” he said.

Police in BC consistently hold campaigns to crack down on distracted drivers — the most recent one in Vancouver wrapping up just a couple of months ago. The VPD says year-to-date, officers have handed out about 9,700 tickets.

In the fall, the province designating distracted driving as high-risk behaviour. That means you’ll have to pay as much as $2,000 if you get pulled over for using a hand-held device more than once in three years. That’s $740 more than the current penalty, and on top of what you’re already paying for insurance.