Statistically speaking, there are 16 people alive today who quite probably would not have been if B.C. hadn't enacted its distracted driving law two years ago.
Enacted on Feb. 1, 2010, the law carries a fine of $167 for using handheld cellphones and other electronic devices while driving. It also adds three penalty points to the licences of drivers who risk their lives and the lives of others by texting or emailing while driving.
Using a handheld cellphone has been shown to be the number 1 cause of distracted driving, which in turn leads to a significant increase in the likelihood of being involved in an accident.
Evidence shows that talking on a cellphone while driving reduces a driver's field of vision by 50 per cent, and it quadruples the risk of causing a motor vehicle crash.
It doesn't take a genius to figure that something as overtly foolish as texting while driving is riskier still. Between Feb. 1, 2010, and Sept. 30, 2011, police issued 46,008 tickets to drivers using hand-held electronic devices, and another 1,372 tickets were issued for emailing or texting.
Yet we see still see people regularly flouting the law, driving with their cellphones plastered against their ears or trying to text while stopped in traffic.
In fact, police issued more than 34 per cent more tickets for distracted driving in 2011 than in the previous year.
Considering numerous studies show hands-free devices involve just as much risk of crashes, injuries and death as their outlawed handheld counterparts, and considering the remarkable success of the current law in reducing deaths, injuries and property damage, it's high time that the ban on all electronic paraphernalia - not just hand-held devices - is extended to all drivers.
Totally banning use of the devices won't stop all drivers from exercising behaviour that is risky to themselves and to others on the road, but the success of the current law shows us that an expanded law can help save more lives.