In honour of the National Day of Remembrance for Road Crash Victims, The Co-operators has announced that it is partnering with the Canadian Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) to help combat distracted driving in Canada.
As part of the Drive out Distraction initiative, the insurer will help to finance TIRF’s objectives in both researching the root causes of auto collisions and launching educational campaigns to eliminate them.
The two entities will initiate the process by drafting an environment scan report that assesses the effectiveness of various legislative, policy, enforcement, educational and advocacy efforts throughout Canada, and leverage the most successful ones as a baseline for future plans.
“As an insurer of more than one million vehicles, we see first-hand the devastating effects of traffic injuries and fatalities on the lives of our clients,” Kathy Bardswick, president and CEO of The Co-operators, said in a statement. “Distracted driving is a contributing factor in one of every four major injury crashes. We are determined to make a difference by working to change behaviour around distracted driving to make our roads and communities safer for everyone.”
The partnership also aims to develop a “public online repository of data, information and resources” that can be used as a resource by anyone who wishes to learn more about distracted driving. Moreover, a new coalition of stakeholders will draft an action plan that will be implemented throughout 2016.
20% to 30% of all auto accidents worldwide are caused by driver distraction, and the habit costs Canada $10 billion – or 1% of its GDP – every year, according to Alberta Transportation.
