Bill 16, Distracted Drivers Act

November 3, 2010

Mrs. Forsyth: Thank you, Mr. Chair. It gives me a great deal of pleasure to stand up and actually make a few comments on Bill 16, the Traffic Safety (Distracted Driving) Amendment Act, 2010. I had the honour of speaking in favour of the bill when the Member for Calgary-Hays first brought this forward in the Legislature. I think it was probably about a year and a half ago. I spoke in favour of it because of the fact that when he brought the bill forward, I supported it then, and I support it now.

At that time when I was debating, I spoke about some of the things that I had encountered as I drive highway 2 every week to fulfill my role as the MLA for Calgary-Fish Creek. I was also at that particular time a member of the Progressive Conservative government and went through all the debate on this particular piece of legislation and the government not supporting this piece of legislation.

So I am actually going to give them some credit by coming now and bringing this piece of legislation forward and recognizing the severity of the problem and the seriousness of it. You know, it disheartens me when I think about all of the accidents that have occurred and the time wasted not bringing this piece of legislation forward.

What I want to talk about, where I have some concerns, Mr. Chairman, is under section 115.4 when they talk about: Subject to this section and the regulations made under section 115.5, no individual shall drive or operate a vehicle on a highway while engaged in an activity that distracts the individual from the operation of the vehicle, including but not limited to . . .

And then they talk about:
(a) reading or viewing printed material,
(b) writing, printing or sketching, which makes perfect sense to me,
(c) engaging in personal grooming or hygiene.

My spidey senses start going off when I read something like that. You know, you talk about clarity in legislation. For me one wonders what personal grooming or hygiene is. Hygiene can go any way. I mean, is it blowing your nose if you have to while driving down the highway? Is it putting some lip balm on while driving? To me it’s just, you know, not clear enough.

Then they go on to say:
(d) any other activity that may be prescribed in the regulations.

I have a big question mark by that. You know, what are they talking about? Any other activity? It could be a host of other things.

What I would like to have seen in this particular legislation, Mr. Chair, is letting our wonderful law enforcement agencies make those decisions without having all of these, one, two, three, four. I had the great privilege of being the Solicitor General several years ago and have a huge amount of respect for the law enforcement agencies – the police, the RCMP, the sheriffs – that work in this province on a daily basis under at times very, very life-threatening situations. You know, I think it’s more important, as far as I’m concerned, when we start listing these, to let the law enforcement agencies make the decisions.

Heather is driving down the highway. She decides to grab her lip balm and put it on her lips. Is that distracted driving?

I can tell you that, speaking on this particular piece of legislation, that the Member for Calgary-Hays brought forward, I can remember one time driving down the highway, and I passed a driver who had a coffee in one hand, had a cigarette in another hand, had a cellphone, and still somehow managed to give me the birdie as I was driving. I thought: well, you know, you talk about octopuses; that definitely was an octopus when you can do all of those things at once.

Since this legislation was brought forward, I have paid particular attention to some of the things I watch and I see as people are driving. Quite frankly, that is distracted driving when I’m watching what other people are doing to try and get an idea of what distracted driving is. I thought: “Geez, Heather. You know, you’re looking at what other people are doing as distracted drivers, and you’re watching to make sure so that you have some points in regard to what other people are doing to be driving distracted.”

Mr. Chair, I’ve seen a host of things over the last few weeks when I’ve been driving down highway 2. I’m sure everybody in this Assembly can share what they consider a story. I mean, I’m sure my colleague from Calgary-Glenmore will elaborate about how he was driving and wished he had a video camera when he saw a colleague, not one of us but a colleague, driving down highway 2 – and I’ll let him elaborate – with a cellphone in one hand, a pop in the other hand, and driving with their knees. I still have trouble actually trying to even visualize that concept.

Mr. Danyluk: If you were watching that closely, you must have been distracted yourself.

Mrs. Forsyth: The Member for Lac La Biche-St. Paul had some comments to make on the distracted driving, so I’ll look forward to him making his comments during this debate in the Legislature.

You know, social media is a wonderful tool. We saw what happened recently with the mayoral campaign and how he utilized the social media. I’m old, Mr. Chair, and I’m trying to get used to all this social media, this Facebook, this Twitter. So I thought: well, why don’t we just engage the public on Bill 16? You put the message out on your Facebook saying: “Debating Bill 16. Give me your comments.” I twittered that, and I was overwhelmed at the comments that I got back from people.

It’s just an example that people are paying attention to what’s happening in this Legislature. We provided a link, and I have comments that were posted on my Facebook. I had comments that were posted to me directly, and people say and ask all sorts of things. Here’s one from one of the Facebook messages: “Truth is drivers are distracted just by driving, too many times looking at the scenery and not enough attention to what is going on on the road. The fewer distractions the better, especially on high- speed roadways like QE II.” And that’s where I see all of these distracted drivers when I’m driving.

We and I’m sure everybody in the House have received an e-mail from the students at the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta. They were doing a paper in regard to this particular piece of legislation. You know, they e-mailed, and they wanted to know, first of all, if we supported Bill 16, which we do. Then they went as far as to say: well, do you support hands-free cellphones? Well, Mr. Chair, one of the things that I’ve noticed when I’ve been driving is the people that are talking on their hands- free cell. It’s quite amazing how all of a sudden when people are on hands-free, their hands are going, and they’re talking like crazy on the phone. They’ve got this hands-free; they’re pointing, and they’re gesturing, and there are no hands on the wheel.

You know, I guess what I’m trying to say here is that we support this particular piece of legislation. I’m just speaking for myself on behalf of Calgary-Fish Creek because the constituents in Calgary- Fish Creek have overwhelmingly told me that they want me to support Bill 16.

The section that I refer to is under the prohibited activities, 115.4, where we talk about, as I explained earlier, reading or viewing printed material, writing, printing, engaging in personal grooming or hygiene, and any other activities that may be prescribed in the regulations. My questions, then, go to the minister about what is going to be included in the regulations. How does he determine what should be in there?

Is it someone stopping at Tim Hortons, like I do when I drive every week? I stop at Tim Hortons, and I get my coffee. I usually get my breakfast sandwich, or I get my bagel, and if I need to be in Edmonton for some event, I start driving. Now, am I distracted when I’m chomping on my bagel as I’m driving because I have one hand and I might be eating my bagel?

Again, Mr. Chair, who determines what a distracted driver is? In my mind, let’s let the law enforcement agencies, the police in this province, that do an incredible job, determine what exactly a distracted driver is instead of having this in the legislation and saying: well, we believe that Heather is engaging in personal grooming or hygiene because she’s driving down the highway trying to wipe her nose, maybe putting some lip balm on. Or, for example, I have a headache and I’ve decided that I’m going to drive, and I’m going to take two Tylenol.

I mean, you know, these are all things that we’ve done, Mr. Chair, and I’m not innocent. I’m one of those people that had to get everything done, talk on my cellphone when I had three hours of driving time. I’m sure there are not very many members in the Legislature that haven’t done that, and I’ll be one of the first to admit that I have done that and have now ordered my Bluetooth. If something happens where I have to take a call on an emergency, at least I’m reaching for the Bluetooth. I am conscientiously now driving up to Edmonton having the cellphone in my purse, leaving my cellphone in the purse, and really trying to break that particular habit.

To finish, Mr. Chair, I would like to hear what the Minister of Transportation is going to say when he talks about the prohibited activities. I know that we have an amendment that was received, which was about sections, I believe, that didn’t have anything to do with 115.4, and maybe he can correct me. He put in an amendment to Bill 16, and it deals with the proposed section 115.1. It’s all 115.1 and some of 115.2, and he’s made some changes there.

You know, I always shake my head that when the government has staff and more staff and more staff and wonderful staff, I must say, that work for the government, far more staff than we would ever hope and dream for with our two little researchers, they can’t bring a bill forward and get it right the first time.

I really have a great deal of respect for the Minister of Transportation, and I’m wondering why he has brought forward the amendments to Bill 16 that are dealing with 115.1 and why they haven’t even looked at 115.4 because, quite frankly, Minister, this is the section that we’re getting all the calls on, all the comments on. I would love to have the Solicitor General and Minister of Public Security maybe speak on behalf of the police, that he represents, to see what they have to say about this. I can tell you that the police officers that I’ve spoken to have said that this is far too restrictive.

They would like the ability to make the determination in regard to what is a distracted driver and what isn’t a distracted driver. It’s something where I would like to hear, quite frankly, what the government has to say. I will be supporting Bill 16. Hopefully, we’ll be able to bring an amendment forward to maybe talk about the prohibited activities. My colleague from Calgary-Glenmore, I hope, is going to bring something forward, and we can look at that.

Mr. Speaker, with those few words I want to thank you.