wtom
04-20-2010, 09:32 AM
http://www.wheels.ca/newsandfeatures/article/785383--an-open-letter-to-transportation-minister-wynne
Let’s get to the root of the carnage: poor driving
Apr 16, 2010
Ian Law
Special to the Star
An open letter to Ontario’s Minister of Transportation, the Honourable Kathleen Wynne.
Dear Minister,
According to your Ministry of Transportation website, in 2006 (the latest data available), 1,244 people died in vehicle collisions across the province. Those injured in traffic crashes totalled almost 90,000, the equivalent to the entire population of Brantford. This resulted in health care costs in the billions — Transport Canada’s website estimates $17.9 billion, or 3.5 per cent of Ontario’s gross domestic product in 2004.
There were almost 400,000 vehicle crashes in 2006. With nearly seven million vehicles in Ontario, that means roughly one of every 17 vehicles was involved in a crash. This is a totally unacceptable rate.
You can bet your last pension dollar that if that same fatality rate occurred in our airline industry, every politician from Kenora to Glen Nevis would be demanding the grounding of all planes until their safety record was improved. Legislation would be flying out the doors of Queen’s Park.
Here’s the billion-dollar question: If society won’t accept such a horrendous death rate for flying, why are our politicians not addressing the problem with our roads?
Vehicles have never been safer with all the latest space-age technology designed by automotive engineers. Stability control, ABS brakes, traction control, three-point seatbelts, intelligent airbags, collision crumple zones and passenger crash cages all help to keep motorists and passengers safe.
Tire technology has improved immensely over the past few decades. Dedicated seasonal tires with better rubber compounds and computer-enhanced design and construction have given drivers more grip than ever.
Advanced road design has minimized a lot of potential threats to motorists. Wider shoulders, improved barriers, snow removal and de-icing, additional passing zones, computerized signals and better signage have all contributed to a safer driving environment.
Then why are so many people still dying on our roads? Why are citizens still suffering from debilitating traffic injuries that cost our society billions in medical and rehab dollars?
The answer is quite simple: Because we have not addressed the real cause of traffic crashes and collisions — driver error.
Poorly trained drivers will still crash the safest vehicles even on the most advanced roads. Drivers crash vehicles, plain and simple. It is not bad weather, dangerous roads or bad luck. It is the driver. Statistics show that 95 per cent of all crashes are avoidable, since the cause is driver error.
It’s time we stop treating the symptoms and cure the cause.
To reduce the carnage on our roads, we need better-trained drivers and higher standards of licensing.
For the past several decades, driving schools have had only one directive and that is to equip new drivers with enough knowledge to pass the provincial driving test.
The licensing process has really had only one improvement since the days when I earned my licence: the graduated licensing system implemented in April of 1994. But why stop there?
It’s painfully obvious that we aren’t teaching enough skills to new drivers. Even our experienced drivers have limited skills. Motorists can usually cope with traffic as long as all goes well. When a traffic situation turns critical or when nature shows its ugly side, drivers have little if any training on how to maintain or regain control of their vehicle when it all goes wrong.
Driving schools are not doing nearly enough to teach new drivers the skills of car control and collision avoidance. The vast majority provide no training in these crucial areas. New drivers are not exposed to skids or slides until it is too late, on roads packed with other drivers. Winter driving is another skill driving schools don’t train drivers for, and the results show up on news coverage after each snowfall.
All I ask you for is one day of your time for you, your ministry advisers and the opposition transportation critics to join us in a day of advanced driver training, so that you and your staff can discover exactly how much more there is to learn about the skills of driving.
With this new information, you could modify training and licensing requirements so that we start producing better-trained drivers.
Ian Law can be reached through www.carcontrolschool.com
Let’s get to the root of the carnage: poor driving
Apr 16, 2010
Ian Law
Special to the Star
An open letter to Ontario’s Minister of Transportation, the Honourable Kathleen Wynne.
Dear Minister,
According to your Ministry of Transportation website, in 2006 (the latest data available), 1,244 people died in vehicle collisions across the province. Those injured in traffic crashes totalled almost 90,000, the equivalent to the entire population of Brantford. This resulted in health care costs in the billions — Transport Canada’s website estimates $17.9 billion, or 3.5 per cent of Ontario’s gross domestic product in 2004.
There were almost 400,000 vehicle crashes in 2006. With nearly seven million vehicles in Ontario, that means roughly one of every 17 vehicles was involved in a crash. This is a totally unacceptable rate.
You can bet your last pension dollar that if that same fatality rate occurred in our airline industry, every politician from Kenora to Glen Nevis would be demanding the grounding of all planes until their safety record was improved. Legislation would be flying out the doors of Queen’s Park.
Here’s the billion-dollar question: If society won’t accept such a horrendous death rate for flying, why are our politicians not addressing the problem with our roads?
Vehicles have never been safer with all the latest space-age technology designed by automotive engineers. Stability control, ABS brakes, traction control, three-point seatbelts, intelligent airbags, collision crumple zones and passenger crash cages all help to keep motorists and passengers safe.
Tire technology has improved immensely over the past few decades. Dedicated seasonal tires with better rubber compounds and computer-enhanced design and construction have given drivers more grip than ever.
Advanced road design has minimized a lot of potential threats to motorists. Wider shoulders, improved barriers, snow removal and de-icing, additional passing zones, computerized signals and better signage have all contributed to a safer driving environment.
Then why are so many people still dying on our roads? Why are citizens still suffering from debilitating traffic injuries that cost our society billions in medical and rehab dollars?
The answer is quite simple: Because we have not addressed the real cause of traffic crashes and collisions — driver error.
Poorly trained drivers will still crash the safest vehicles even on the most advanced roads. Drivers crash vehicles, plain and simple. It is not bad weather, dangerous roads or bad luck. It is the driver. Statistics show that 95 per cent of all crashes are avoidable, since the cause is driver error.
It’s time we stop treating the symptoms and cure the cause.
To reduce the carnage on our roads, we need better-trained drivers and higher standards of licensing.
For the past several decades, driving schools have had only one directive and that is to equip new drivers with enough knowledge to pass the provincial driving test.
The licensing process has really had only one improvement since the days when I earned my licence: the graduated licensing system implemented in April of 1994. But why stop there?
It’s painfully obvious that we aren’t teaching enough skills to new drivers. Even our experienced drivers have limited skills. Motorists can usually cope with traffic as long as all goes well. When a traffic situation turns critical or when nature shows its ugly side, drivers have little if any training on how to maintain or regain control of their vehicle when it all goes wrong.
Driving schools are not doing nearly enough to teach new drivers the skills of car control and collision avoidance. The vast majority provide no training in these crucial areas. New drivers are not exposed to skids or slides until it is too late, on roads packed with other drivers. Winter driving is another skill driving schools don’t train drivers for, and the results show up on news coverage after each snowfall.
All I ask you for is one day of your time for you, your ministry advisers and the opposition transportation critics to join us in a day of advanced driver training, so that you and your staff can discover exactly how much more there is to learn about the skills of driving.
With this new information, you could modify training and licensing requirements so that we start producing better-trained drivers.
Ian Law can be reached through www.carcontrolschool.com