The Government Promised to Make Roads Safer - Have They?

For more than two years we've been told that the new distracted driving law would make Alberta streets safer.
More more than a year we've been told that the new impaired driving law would make Alberta streets safer.
While it's still too early to draw any final conclusions, the early signs are not encouraging. Quite the opposite in fact, as the number of fatal collisions is up 20 per cent from last year.
Calgary Police Chief Rick Hansen, for example, wants to see the province impose demerit points to distracted driving tickets. He believes that the $172 fine isn't enough and drivers aren't fearful enough of the consequences. Whatever the case, distracted driving is on the rise - not the decline.
Maybe drivers don't think they're going to get caught. Or maybe they feel that some provisions, like the ban on reading a text while you're stuck at a train crossing or in the drive-thru lineup - are just plain silly. One of the concerns many critics had was that the law might make some motorists try and hide their devices, which would make their actions even more dangerous.
Meanwhile, it was just back in September that Hansen was claiming the new provincial impaired driving law was working. But as 2012 draws to a close, police are on pace to lay over 1400 charges for being over point-zero-eight. Over 1200 such charges were laid last year.
And let's note the obvious: if the number of crashes and offenses had been down this year, then certainly the government and police would be touting the success of both laws.
Instead, we're now looking again at what more can be done.
Maybe more can be done, but we should be skeptical of the notion that the government has the answer.