Brokers came down hard on the increase of careless drivers on the nation’s roads, and are united in their call for harsher penalties for those who choose to text and drive.
Comments on this week’s article
‘Texting and driving as bad or worse than impaired’ shared a common theme that action must be taken to curb what has become a greater problem than impaired drivers.
“In my opinion they should have never changed the law and called it ‘distracted driving,’” wrote Chris Christensen. “It should be what it really is, ‘driving with undue care and attention,’ which is a much more serious offence.”
Cricket Blakely suggested that the treatment of careless drivers should be equal to those found guilty of impaired driving.
“As far as I'm concerned the fine should be $495 careless driving and 7 points and a 30 day suspension for the first offence,” wrote Blakely. “The second offence should be just like the impaired driving: lose your licence for 1 year. Third offence you should lose your licence for 5 years. And if there should be a fourth offence, lose the licence for life as you would think after this many times they would learn.”
Increasing public awareness and placing the onus on the parents to better educate their children before taking the wheel was another suggestion. (contintued.)
#pb#
“Part of the issue is also parent modeling. If parents aren't modeling avoidance to pre-driving teenagers, then it’s seen as acceptable behaviour,” wrote Duncan. “And while the teens may initially comply with the law out of fear, because other teens and adults do it, they will accept this behaviour. Tickets alone will not deter new drivers from texting and driving until it seriously impacts someone in their circle of influence or they see the positive behavior modeled by their elders.”
