Back in November, Alberta finally passed Bill 16... the Distracted Driving Law. It's the toughest in the country!! For months before that, you could talk on a cell phone and drive a car, unless you went east into Saskatchewan or west into British Columbia. Alberta was a little island of distracted driving... But no more!!!
Bill 16 not only bars people from phoning, texting or emailing while driving, it also prohibits actions such as reading, grooming or writing while behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. That includs the use of a laptop! It also targets eating and drinking - if police feel it's distracting. Drinking your coffee with a hand on the wheel likely won't get you a ticket; but eating a sandwich with both hands while using your knee to steer could get you in trouble with the law. No kidding...
It also includes manually typing or inputting information into a portable audio player... So don't play with your iPod nano!! And... no manually inputting information into a GPS system while driving!! That could be a big one for some people.
Apparently, Albertans are the worst offenders in the country when it comes to driving while distracted. Which makes our roads very dangerous! Taking your eyes off of the road for five seconds while driving at 90 kilometres an hour is the equivalent of driving the length of a football field blind. Police also say you are twice as likely to have a collision while distracted, and that 80 per cent of all collisions involve some sort of distracted driving.
The Government of Alberta is going to phase in the Distracted Driving Law, to give Albertans a chance to get used to the new way of driving! The law doesn't take effect until June 2011... but given how attached we are to multi-tasking while driving... we might want to start practicing now! And got out and get a bluetooth earpiece... because hands-free cell phone use is still allowed...
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