Whether you’re calling someone on your phone, texting or picking your nose, the Richmond RCMP’s monoscope is going to see you before you see it.
The scope, one of the many tools at the police’s disposal will be training its sights on the selfish drivers among us who still believe their phone call or text is worth risking other people’s lives for.
As part of WorkSafeBC’s inaugural Road Safety at Work Week — which is running March 2 to 6 — Richmond Mounties, along with ICBC, will be out in force to crack down on drivers distracted by their devices.
According to statistics released by ICBC, it takes drivers an average of 13 seconds to make a call and a staggering 34 seconds to reset their GPS.
All that amounts to is a crash being four times more likely to happen when you try to use your device while driving.
“Lots of people think we can’t see them,” said the RCMP’s staff sgt. Dale Somerville, of the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police Traffic Safety Committee.
“But you can’t disguise it as much as you think and you won’t see us until it’s too late.
“My advice is to keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road.”
Tips to take the temptation out of calling or texting, according to ICBC, is to put your phone on airplane mode or, if you have passengers, designate one of them to be the texter while your drive.
One company which has taken the discouragement of distracting driving to a whole new level is Finning Canada, the world’s largest Caterpillar dealer.
Finning has its own distracted driving policy and any employee falling foul of the law is subject to the company’s disciplinary procedure.
Noel Hill, Finning Canada’s general manager of health and safety, told the News how his company’s policy was “wildly unpopular” when it was implemented eight years ago.
“Anytime you try to change something, it’s always going to be a shock to the system,” said Hill.
“We heard from our salesmen that they did the majority of their calls while on the road.
“But they just had to adapt and we believe strongly in this and do it for all the right reasons.”
Hill said he wasn’t aware of any employees losing their jobs due to the policy.
If you think your company might benefit from having a similar policy, go to www.roadsafetyatwork.ca for more details.
