Allstate launches distracted driving campaign
Allstate Insurance Company of Canada has launched its Action Against Distraction campaign and is working with schools and communities across the Greater Toronto Area to explain to teens that even the simplest distraction – texting, applying makeup, changing a CD, adjusting a GPS unit or even chatting with friends instead of watching the road – can lead to a fatal collision.
Allstate has created the Action Against Distraction online pledge, where young drivers and their parents can add their names and show their commitment to help stop distracted driving.
Young drivers in Ontario, Alberta, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are automatically entered to win an iPad when they take the Action Against Distraction pledge at goodhandsadvice.ca/distraction. An additional ballot is earned when shared with friends.
"Driving is about focus – if you aren’t focused on your driving, you put you and everyone around you at risk," said Saskia Matheson, Allstate’s Director of Risk Management, in a press release. "We are committed to keeping Canadian roads as safe as possible for all drivers, and we believe the Action Against Distraction campaign helps young drivers and their parents understand what’s at risk."
According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, drivers aged 21 and under with less than six months of driving experience have more collisions, drive at higher initial speeds, follow the car ahead more closely and talk on their cell phones more than drivers with 10 or more years of driving experience. As well, Canadians aged 16 to 24 are more likely than their older peers to steer or brake to avoid a collision due to in-car distractions.
Other facts about distracted driving include:
- You are 23 times more likely to crash when you drive distracted. When drivers take their eyes off the road for more than two seconds, crash risks double.
- Inexperienced drivers under 20 years old have the highest percentage of distraction-related fatal crashes.
- Distracted driving is the equivalent of driving after consuming four beers.
- Taking your eyes off the road for five seconds while driving at 90 km/h is like driving the length of a football field – completely blind.
- In Ontario, British Columbia, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and later this year in Manitoba, it is illegal for drivers to talk, text, type, dial or email using hand-held cell phones and other hand-held communications and entertainment devices. The Alberta government has recently put forward a similar cell-phone ban bill, which will be voted on this year.
