Canadians would give up distracted driving for money: survey

Canadians believe distracted driving is one of the riskiest behaviours on the road and would limit those distractions first if offered a monetary incentive, according to a survey by Leger Research commissioned by insurance company belairdirect.

The survey, which Leger Research conducted on the web from July 24th to July 27th, sampled 1,551 French and English-speaking Canadians 18-years-of age-or-older, weighted according to data from Statistics Canada on gender, age, region, mother tongue, education and presence of children.

According to the survey, 95 percent of Canadians believe they are good at driving while 93 percent admit to engaging in some risky behaviour. They also identified the top three riskiest behaviours as being under the influence (89 percent), distracted driving (54 percent) and fatigue (42 percent).

The survey further indicates that 79 percent of drivers would be willing to give up at least one bad habit if they knew a monetary incentive was on offer.

According to belairdirect and Leger Research, the habits Canadians are most willing to give up involve those that limiting cellphone use, like sending a text, checking their phone or making a call.

This concept — while hypothetical — might seem difficult to enforce, but could connect with the ambitions of a Vancouver-based startup called eBrake, which is currently being piloted by Telus.

The young company blocks drivers from using their phones while in motion, but allows passenger to use a device through a proprietary gesture-based ‘Passenger Unlock Test’ that requires two hands.

According to numbers from the Insurance Bureau of Canada, eight-out-of-10 crashes in Canada are caused by distracted driving. In Ontario specifically, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) recently stated that distracted driving is the leading cause of road deaths for the fourth consecutive year.

Source: CNW