Would you walk around blindfolded in one of Richmond’s chaotic parking lots with a loaded gun and your finger on the trigger?
Thought not.
But that’s akin to what you’re doing when you decide to use your cellphone while your foot is on the accelerator in your vehicle.
Just as you’d be risking everyone else’s life in that parking lot with your pistol, your car is potentially as lethal as a loaded weapon.
So, I find it astounding, to say the least, that someone — case in point a Richmond driver on page 9 — can risk the lives of everyone around her 14 times and still be trusted to turn on an ignition switch.
Just how selfish can one person be to continually stick the middle finger up at the law and gamble with the lives of innocent people around her on a daily basis?
I tell you what — and this may be unpalatable to some — I actually couldn’t care less about the safety of this so-called driver.
When someone has a flagrant disregard for the rules of the road and compromises my ability to return home safely to my family after a hard day’s work, just so they can text, tweet or FB, their well-being drops off my radar, just as quickly as their eyes leave the road.
If you’re the driver on page 9, I’d love for you to give me a shout and explain how your life is more important than mine or anyone else you have weaved past on the road.
And that leads me back to why you’re still allowed to be in charge of a fast-moving machine, given your blatant self-importance.
According to RoadSafetyBC — the provincial government department in charge of disciplining drivers — the tipping point for distracted drivers using electronic devices to be banned is between 15 and 19 points.
At three points per offence (let’s forget the paltry $167 fine, the second lowest in Canada), that means you can play Russian roulette with other drivers and pedestrians five or six times before someone at RoadSafetyBC even considers taking the “gun” out of your hand.
Really?
RoadSafetyBC doesn’t seem too sure whose job it is to red-flag persistent offenders to them, suggesting it could be ICBC, which takes care of some of RoadSafetyBC’s ironically-named Driver Improvement Program (DIP) responsibilities. Sometimes, it’s the police who alert the driving authorities.
Clearly, there’s something missing if people can rack up a shopping list of dangerous behaviour and still continue unabated.
If fines and points aren’t working, start naming and shaming these selfish muppets and maybe some peer pressure and the social unacceptance might touch a nerve somewhere in their bite-sized brain.
Alan Campbell is a reporter with the Richmond News. [email protected]
