Practice
Blog 
Auto Accidents and Car Wrecks
News
- Progress Being Made on Breast Cancer Claims...
- Associate lawyer...
- Plaintiff lawyer gets five years for bribery...
- Record $17 million injury award upheld...
Library
Auto Accidents and Car Wrecks
- Cell Phones and Motor Vehicle Accidents
- The Constitutionality of No-Fault Auto Insurance
- Auto Tort Reform: A Newfoundland and Labrador Victory for the Injured
Class Action Lawsuits
- Mass Torts and Class Actions: Separating the Wheat from the Chaff
- Light Cigarettes
- Payday Loans
- Advanced Medical Optics
- Video Lottery Terminals
Breast Cancer Testing Class Action Documents
- Press Release: Dec 12, 2006
- Certification Application
- Statement Of Claim
- Answers to Interrogatories
- Hutton Response
Chocolate Price Fixing Class Action Documents
Video Lottery Terminals Class Action Documents
Advanced Medical Optics Class Action Documents
Payday Loans Class Action Documents
- Money Mart Statement of Claim
- Payday Loans Press Release
- Payday Plus Statement of Claim
- Quick Cash Statment of Claim
OxyContin Class Action Documents
Light Cigarettes Class Action Documents
Lab City Class Action Documents
- Litigation Plan
- Press Release - February 9, 2004
- Affidavit of Representative Plaintiff
- Affidavit of Solicitor
- Application for Class Certification
Newsletter Archive
Public Law Library
- Public Database of Court Decisions
- Highest Personal Injury Damages Awarded in Atlantic Canada History
- Court of Appeals Reverses Trial Decision: Ditch Dangerous but Premises Safe (go figure!)
- Injured Doctor Looks For Help From Supreme Court of Canada
- Injured Doctor Looks For Help From Supreme Court of Canada Part II
General
Newfoundland Injury Law Blog
Newfoundland Injury Law BlogAuto Accidents and Car Wrecks
Cell phones, speed, injury and death
The writer Aldous Huxley said “Speed is the only truly 20th century pleasure.” Before the last 100 years, almost nobody traveled faster than a galloping horse. Since the advent of the automobile, we’ve been driving dangerously. We listen to music, converse, eat, put on makeup, read maps, smoke, and do plenty more while driving. That’s only the stuff we’re allowed to do. Heck, we even try to do 2 or 3 of these things at the same time.
Since cell phones have become immensely popular, we can add them to the list of driving distractions.
Technology is progressing so quickly that we find ourselves with more and more distractions in the car. It’s not just listening to music and the radio anymore, but talking on cell phones and browsing the Internet on our blackberries while kids are watching movies in the back seat.
Ontario recently announced that it is considering a ban on the use of cell phones and other technological devices while driving. Newfoundland and Labrador was the first province to introduce the ban, and Quebec and Nova Scotia have now joined the club. Manitoba is contemplating the idea. Credit for the Newfoundland ban belongs to the Coalition Against No-Fault, which lobbied for the ban starting in 2002.
With all this debate about the dangers of cell phone use in the car, some Canadians are withdrawing support from the idea of a ban. Is all this talk about cell phones as distractions an overreaction? We’ve done just fine dealing with the other distractions mentioned above. Cell phones can’t be that more dangerous, can they?
Ontario reached the lowest recorded level of traffic fatality and injury rates for the third time in a row in 2005, and last month the Globe and Mail argued in an editorial that the law should not ban cell phone use in motor vehicles because drivers would ignore the ban. The fact is cell phones are a grave distraction, which the pivotal study published in the New England Journal of Medicine compared to drunk driving as a safety issue. This is worth quoting (p. 456):
We found that using a cellular telephone was associated with a risk of having a motor vehicle collision that was about four times as high as that among the same drivers when they were not using their cellular telephones. This relative risk is similar to the hazard associated with driving with a blood alcohol level at the legal limit.
Look in any graveyard. Chances are, anyone under age 30 died of injuries suffered in a motor vehicle accident. Are we so self-centered that we can’t accept a cell phone ban on drivers? Enjoy the pleasure of speed, but not while talking on your cell. Premier Williams, who recently voluntarily paid a fine when he was reported for cell use while driving, would agree.
For related articles see:
http://miramichileader.canadaeast.com/news/article/470649 and http://www.citizen.on.ca/news/2008/1106/editorial/015.html
Read More about "Cell phones, speed, injury and death"
Comments
Post a comment
Post a Comment to "Cell phones, speed, injury and death"
To reply to this message, enter your reply in the box labeled "Message", enter your username and password, and hit "Post Message."
FREE Online Evaluation
QUICK CONTACT
Ches Crosbie Barristers
169 Water Street
St. John's, NL A1C 1B1
Toll Free: (888) 579-3262
Phone: (709) 579-4000
Fax: (709) 579-9671
FAQ
Auto Accidents and Car Wrecks
- If an insurance adjuster calls me after my accident to ask me questions, can I talk to him?
- Are photos of the accident scene helpful?
- A friend was in a car accident and broke her leg. She got a lot of money. Will my case be worth as much as hers?
Accidents and Injuries
- If this is my child’s case, will I need to bring my child into court at the time of trial?
- If this is a case about my child’s injuries, do I need to bring my child in to see you?
- What is a life care planner?
Medical Malpractice
- How do you decide whether to accept a medical malpractice case?
- Why do we need expert witnesses in our malpractice cases?
- You declined my malpractice case. How come?
Class Action Lawsuits
- As a class member, do I have any responsibility to pay for any cost awards payable to the other side?
- As a class member do I have a responsibility for the legal fee of plaintiff's counsel?
- What do I have to do to join the class action?
Newfoundland and Labrador Personal Injury Lawyer
- What is your “success rate”?
- Do injury lawyers advertise too much?
- Who is the "best" lawyer for an injury case?