Friday, October 11, 2019

Victoria, BC – With distracted driving the top contributing factor in deaths on B.C. roads, we are proud to partner with the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF), Drop It And Drive® (DIAD) and The Co-operators in a distracted driving community forum on Wednesday, October 16th. This event includes an opportunity for media to participate in and capture several of the dynamic, hands-on demonstrations.

During the forum, community members will work hands on with road safety professionals and first responders for an impactful learning experience about the realities of driving while distracted. With an emphasis on young drivers, the event includes interactive demonstrations of the impact of task-loading on drivers and focusses on building a community of safety through creating opportunities to protect drivers, cyclists and pedestrians who share the road.

“It’s exciting to watch DIAD participants relate their experience of discovering how distraction impacts our ability to perceive risk and react in a timely manner as well as the reduction in field of view to their own driving behaviours,” Karen Bowman, Director, TIRF’s Drop It And Drive® program explained. “We find that they become less concerned with what they can get away with when driving and instead focus more on choices they can make to help ensure everyone gets home safe every day.”

This focus on getting everyone home safe every day is part of the reason the event, with participants including teens, parents, educators, community members, road safety experts and VicPD officers is already at capacity. Participants will come away with an understanding of what individual drivers can to do keep themselves and others safer on the roads.

“What we’re experiencing in Canada is the, “It’s not me, it’s you” phenomenon where people tend not to realize when they’re distracted behind the wheel and instead spend more time focusing on those other drivers on the road,” Robyn Robertson, President & CEO of the Traffic Injury Research Foundation, said.  “We need to remember how important our own behaviour is to positively influence others.”

VicPD Traffic officers recently conducted a distracted driving enforcement project which significantly demonstrated that distracted driving remains a problem on Victoria and Esquimalt roads.

“Our September distracted driving enforcement project saw our VicPD Traffic officers issue 74 tickets to drivers using electronic devices while they are behind the wheel,” Chief Del Manak said. “That’s far too many. We’re proud to partner with TIRF, DIAD and The Co-operators as we work towards our shared goals – safer roads with no distracted drivers.”

The forum is being offered to participants at no charge, due to the support of The Co-operators who are sponsoring the Distracted Driving Community Forum.

For more information on Drop It And Drive® please visit: http://www.dropitanddive.com

For more information on TIRF, please visit: http://www.tirf.ca

For more information on the Distracted Driving Community Forum Sponsor The Co-operators, please visit:  https://www.cooperators.ca/

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