Bill 16 Has Many Fans But Little Supporting Evidence

My latest Calgary Herald column takes a look at Alberta's Distracted Driving legislation, which takes effect on Thursday:

 

With police forces across Alberta eagerly on board, Alberta's new distracted driving law is now certainly a fait accompli, although that was likely the case long ago.
With the law taking effect on Thursday, we will have completed this headlong charge with very little scrutiny or debate of Bill 16.
Anecdotes about dangerously distracted drivers might seem compelling, but tell us nothing about whether this legislation will accomplish anything.
If we're going to pass legislation and devote police resources to enforcing it, then it's not too much to ask for the province to justify why they believe this will work and what evidence exists to demonstrate that.
In the meantime, police are making it clear that there will be no grace period under this new law
However, police have deftly sidestepped any questions (assuming anyone bothered to ask such questions) about how and whether certain provisions of this law will be enforced.
The law is very detailed and specific about what counts as "distracted" and what counts as "driving".
To most Albertans, "distracted driving" means just that: talking on a cellphone or texting while operating a moving vehicle. As far as this law is concerned, "distracted driving" goes well beyond that.
For example, "driving" under this law includes all sorts of scenarios where one is arguably not driving at all. You might be stopped for several minutes waiting for a train to pass, or stopped in an alley, a parking lot, or even a ditch, but you're still "driving."
Therefore, reading a text message or taking a phone call - or even holding a turned-off cellphone - under any of those circumstances constitutes a violation
So how far will police go in their eager enforcement of this new law?
The closest we've come to an answer is the reassurance that such matters will be left to the "discretion" of the officer, which is really no reassurance at all.
It might seem harsh to ticket someone in the Tim Hortons lineup calling his wife to double-check if that was one sugar or two she wanted. However, doing so is completely in line with the letter of the law. The offender would not have much basis for an appeal.
But how exactly does that make our roads any safer?
Supposedly, improved road safety is the goal of this legislation. At least, that's what the government keeps telling us.
The government points to "tremendous technological advances over the last 20 years" as one of the reasons why distracted driving has become such an issue.
But consider this: from 2003 to 2010, Canada went from 13 million cellphone users to more than 24 million. That's after cellphone usage doubled from 1997 to 2003.
Yet while this explosion has occurred in the usage of these devices, our roads have become safer.
In 1990 there were 3,445 fatal crashes in Canada along with 178,515 injury collisions. In 2009 - with more drivers on the road and far more in the way of distractions - there were 2,011 fatal crashes and 123,192 injury collisions.
That's not to dismiss the potential dangers of distracted driving, but merely a presentation of actual numbers to counter the many presumptions being made.
And while the Alberta government is busy selling anecdotes, south of the border actual research is happening, and it presents a much different picture.
Most recently, a major report was released by the Governors Highway Safety Association, analyzing more than 350 scientific papers on the subject (odd that no one here in Alberta has done so).
The report found that much of the research is contradictory and that there is really no evidence to suggest that these bans actually work.
In fact, after having previously supported such bans, the association is now urging states to hold off on introducing them.
That comes on the heels of two major studies last year from the Highway Loss Data Institute which found no reduction in crashes in states with cellphone bans, and the same for states with texting bans.
Of course motorists should avoid distractions while behind the wheel. But we should have been much more skeptical about the notion that the Alberta government could somehow fix the problem.