ONTARIO – During National Safe Driving Week, Dec. 1 to 7, the Canada Safety Council (CSC) and the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada (IBAC) are reminding drivers how quickly driving can go wrong.
The campaign highlights the steep cost of distracted driving – from injuries and lost income to soaring insurance premiums and lasting impacts on quality of life.
“One glance away can change everything,” said Peter Braid, CEO of the Insurance Brokers Association of Canada in a press release.
“Insurance brokers are there to help when life takes an unexpected turn – but prevention starts long before a claim. Staying focused behind the wheel is the simplest way to protect yourself, your loved ones, and everyone sharing the road.”
A persistent threat
Distraction remains one of Canada’s deadliest driving behaviours.
A 2021 Transport Canada estimate points to distraction as a contributing factor in more than one in five fatal collisions (22.5 per cent) and more than a quarter of serious injury collisions (25.5 per cent.)
The Traffic Injury Research Foundation further identifies that young drivers between 16 and 19 years of age were most likely to have been distracted, with 20.6 per cent of fatally injured distracted drivers being found in that age bracket.
This is tied for the most represented age group along with drivers aged 65 and up.
Distraction is loosely defined as any activity that takes your full focus off the road.
It can take on many forms, including mental distraction, eating behind the wheel, adjusting navigation and infotainment systems and, of course, the ever-present cell phone use behind the wheel.
However defined, the consequences are serious and potentially life-altering.
“A moment’s distraction can unravel a lifetime’s freedom,” said Gareth Jones, president and CEO of the Canada Safety Council in a press release.
“Every glance away from the road is a gamble and the odds are never in your favour, so keep your focus on the road and ensure you arrive to your destination safely.”
The cold truth
Young drivers: it’s easy to feel invincible behind the wheel, or at the very least more prone to taking risks you wouldn’t take outside your car.
Here’s what you really risk:
- freedom and image. A serious crash or licence suspension can mean months (or more) without your car. Your freedom is on pause, to say nothing of your social life;
- financial cost. Even a minor collision can lead to costly repairs, fines, and spiking insurance premiums; and
- physical harm. Your safety, and that of your passengers, pedestrians, and strangers, is non-negotiable. And unfortunately, bodies break much easier than habits do.
If you think “it won’t happen to me,” that’s not uncommon.
Many people to whom collisions happened had the same mentality at the time. Don’t think you’re an exception to actions having consequences.
Every alert, every song change, every text message and Instagram post can wait.
Your freedom can’t. Stay present, eyes forward and locked in on the road ahead and on your surroundings.
Protect what driving represents – your future, your friends, your life.
Because everything you value can be gone in a flash.
