Cross Country Checkup

What is the best way to end cellphone use while driving?

Quebec wants it criminalized. B.C. and Ontario are cracking down Labour Day weekend— all to stop what's fast becoming more deadly than drunk driving. What is the best way to end cellphone use while driving? With host, Duncan McCue.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tom Boland)

Quebec wants it criminalized. B.C. and Ontario are cracking down Labour Day weekend— all to stop what's fast becoming more deadly than drunk driving. What is the best way to end cellphone use while driving?

You're driving along, both hands on the wheel, when your phone buzzes or it makes that irresistible chime. You look down and wonder, "Maybe it's my boss with that urgent update on the project… maybe it's my daughter, saying she got hurt at practice, maybe it's my father, my lover, my BFF..." You can't help yourself: you pick up the phone. Next thing you know, you're texting back. All the while you're doing 80 km/h, with traffic, cyclists, and pedestrians all around. 

Let's be honest, most of us are guilty. Three out of four Canadian drivers admit to distracted driving. This long weekend, police in B.C. and Ontario are out in force cracking down on what the OPP say has become the number one killer on the roads: distracted driving.

We know the dangers of texting and driving, but what can be done to STOP it? 

Are stronger laws the solution? Quebec wants it a criminal offence. Will that curb our addiction to connectivity? Or would it be more effective to change the behaviour through education campaigns? Some suggest the answer lies in more tech.

Our question today: "What's the best way to stop cellphone use while driving?"

Guests

Erik Hanna, motocyclist who took video of distracted driver who was charged in Ottawa

Karen Bowman, Founder of Drop it and Drive, national campaign to raise awareness about the consequences of distracted driving.
Twitter: @DropItAndDrive 

Dr. Louis Francescutti, Practicing emergency physician and public health professor, University of Alberta. Advocate for the Coalition for Cellphone Free Driving, a graduate student-lead initiative at U of A. Past-President of the Canadian Medical Association, and Past-President of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
Twitter: @drfrancescutti

Raynald Marchand, General Manager of Programs, Canada Safety Council, and sits on the Traffic Committee for the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.
Twitter: @CanadaSafetyCSC