Impaired and Distracted Driving
in Nova Scotia
Shirley Ann Rogers, Executive Director
The funding for this session is provided through
the support of the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
We are very grateful for this support.
Top Injury Issues
Nova Scotia’s Injury Prevention Strategy (2010)
indicates Motor Vehicle Collisions as the lead cause of
injuries and injury-related deaths:
1.
2.
3.
Motor Vehicle Collisions
Falls
Suicides/suicide attempts
This makes motor vehicle collisions an
important public health issue.
Why is Injury Free Nova Scotia involved?



We focus our efforts on reducing preventable injuries.
We do it through advocating for policy changes and
pursuing a comprehensive and inclusive approach to
injury prevention.
To us, this approach includes the four E’s of injury
prevention:

Education, Enforcement, Engineering, Economic incentives
Our Focus Today

To provide information on Impaired and Distracted
Driving and their relationship to motor vehicle
collisions.

To learn more about the issues within your
community and the work currently underway to
address them.

To talk together about what we can do at a local,
regional and provincial level to better address this
issue and help save lives.
Injuries & Deaths Caused by MVCs
Every year in Nova Scotia, 70-100 die, 5000 are injured,
200 suffer permanent disability
Brain injury is one of the most serious related injuries.
Motor Vehicle Collisions are the leading cause of severe
traumatic brain injury in Nova Scotia.
Youth are disproportionately involved in Motor Vehicle
Collisions. Each year on average, 28 Nova Scotia youth
are killed.
The Cost has many Faces
The cost in money:
 $86 million annually (2004 figures) including $39
million in direct costs to the health care system.
 Each serious injury costs on average $17,000 per
person
 Costs related to caring for those with traumatic brain
injury averages $400,000 a year
 Additional costs of burden to families and
communities with damaged infrastructure, insurance
claims
The cost in Time/Focus:
 Collisions lead to over half(58%) of hospitalizations
and emergency room visits further taxing our overburdened health care system.
The Personal Cost:
 With injury and disability lives are altered, personal
independence is lost.
 When lives end prematurely, families and friends are
emotionally scarred and communities feel the effect.
What Causes the Collisions?

Vehicle Maintenance Factors Proven = 10%
Probable = 13%

Environmental Factors
Proven = 20%
Probable = 33%

Human Error
Proven = 70%
Probable = 93%

Many of these collisions are due to two issues:

Impaired Driving – alcohol and/or other drugs
(legal and illegal)

Distracted Driving – cell phone talking, texting,
hand-held and hands-free devices
IMPAIRED DRIVING

Impaired driving is the largest single criminal cause of
death and injury in Canada. In an average year, more
than 1,200 Canadians die as a result of impaired driving
and more than 71,500 are injured.

Young people who drink or use other drugs and drive
may be particularly at risk for being involved in a motor
vehicle accident because they have less experience with
driving, and are more likely to engage in risk-taking
behaviour.

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 2010
Driver Impairment: Alcohol + Drugs


In 2010 alcohol and legal + illegal drugs contributed to
39% of all fatal Motor Vehicle Collisions provincially.
Alcohol & Motor Vehicle Collisions

Source: NS Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal
Year
Percentage of total
2011
36%
2010
30.4%
2009
23.6%
2008
15.9%
2007
35.4%

Impairment rates tend to remain steady even in years
where the overall Motor Vehicle Collision rates have
lowered.

There is a trend for increased impairment rates for
females and consistent impairment rates for males.

There is often multiple causation – of 30% alcoholrelated collisions in 2010 …62% not wearing seatbelts,
54% speeding
Link with Alcohol Consumption

Increased rates in per capita consumption of alcohol
result in increased alcohol related harms, including
impaired driving.

Impaired driving injuries and deaths arise both from
driving and driving with someone who has consumed
alcohol and/or drugs.

Why do people still drink and drive when they know
they're not supposed to? Lindsay Lohan is going to jail
because she violated her probation for NOT learning
that lesson ... and she's not alone. 30 percent of us will
be involved in a drunk driving accident in our lives.
Every 45 minutes, someone will be killed by a drunk
driver. And at least 50 percent of drunk drivers will
continue to drive drunk after having their licenses
suspended.

Freakonomics Blog – Eric Morris, 07/13/2010
IN OUR COMMUNITIES
…ACCESS
…ADVERTISING
…PRICING
…ACCEPTABILITY
EACH PLAY A BIG ROLE
Access Matters



The number of alcohol outlets in downtown core of
Halifax has increased from 5 to 17 over the past
decade, and from 7 agency stores to 52 across the
province.
Some bars stay open until 4:00 a.m. on weekend nights.
We know that the more accessible the alcohol is the
more our society consumes.
How much access is enough?
Advertising Matters



The alcohol industry’s goal is simple, - to make more
money. This requires increased consumption of their
product line.
Brewers and distillers are increasingly targeting women
as consumers. The NSLC notes women as a target for
increasing sales (NSLC 2009/10 Annual Business Plan)
It is a successful strategy. Women are consuming more
alcohol and this is leading to increased harms, including
impaired driving.
a Skinny Girl (Brand) Margarita…why?
Pricing Matters

In Nova Scotia, products with higher percentage
alcohol are less expensive than lower ones. (spirits like
rye, vodka are less costly per drink than beer)

Some of the cheapest drinks are “alcopops” with the
highest alcohol in them.

We know that youth are especially price conscious and
will gravitate to the products that are lowest in price.
Acceptability Matters



Alcohol is intricately woven into our society.
There is also a connection with “pride, fortitude,
endurance” in the Maritimes that seeks to connect
alcohol and the maritime “spirit”. This is used
successfully in advertising.
We do not question the displays of alcohol ads at family
events, in public settings
 Alcohol industry fundraising for breast cancer
awareness?
 Beer company 4 by 8 foot display positioned to
“welcome” visitors at the airport.

When we see the risks of alcohol consumption
we tend to isolate out the individual factor and
focus all needed solutions on them.
More education
 More treatment centres
 More stiff penalties for those caught drinking and
driving.



We seldom believe the need to look more
broadly at how we treat alcohol in our society.
We do not target resources on those broader
“population-based” approaches.
We Also Distance Ourselves
From the Issue



Many people who self-define as not drinking
and driving will have one drink and operate a
vehicle.
Many of these same people will host a party
where alcohol is provided and send their guests
home driving under the influence.
Why?
“Why are you trying to change
a culture that does not want to
change?”
…asked within the context of questioning
Molson Coors sponsorship of the Skating Oval in
HRM.
DISTRACTED DRIVING
Much of the following section is taken, with
permission, from the work done by the National Safety
Council, and specifically through the presentation of
David Teater, Senior Director of Transportation
Initiatives , who presented at the Safety Services Nova
Scotia Road Safety Conference 2011.
Distracted Driving




Driver distraction is the leading factor in fatal and
serious injury collisions
28% of all collisions attributable to cell phones
(*2008 statistics)
In U.S.A. that means 1.6 million collisions a year and
645,000 injuries due to cell phones
Cell phone users are 4 times as likely to be in a
collision.
We love our cell phone
-taken from Infographic: Mobile Statistics, Stats & Facts 2011





World-wide 4 billion mobile phones in use.
Of them, 3.05 billion are SMS enabled – allowing for
texting.
By 2014, mobile internet anticipated to exceed desk-top
internet usage
½ of all local searches performed on mobile devices
86% of users are using them watching t.v.








29% scan mobile tags to get coupons
On average 2.7 hours per day is spent socializing on
them, more than twice the time spent eating.
91% of mobile internet access is to socialize
61% play games
50% search for maps
55% checking weather
49% Social networking (facebook etc.)
42% Music



Women 35 – 54 are the most active group in mobile
socialization
Over 70% of the worlds population now have a mobile
phone, 9 out of 10 people in the U.S.A.
In the U.S.A. children are now more likely to own a
mobile phone (85%) than a book (73%).
Talking on the “Cell”


A snapshot of all drivers would show 11% of us are
talking on the cell phone at any time, and this is
anticipated to increase
81% of drivers admit to talking on the cell phone while
driving




74% baby boomers
88% Generation X
89% Generation Y
62% of teen drivers
from the National Safety Council
“Texting” and Driving

18% of drivers admit to texting while driving:
 4% of Baby boomers
 15% of Generation X
 39% of Generation Y
 36% of teen drivers
Webster’s Dictionary names its
Word of the Year for 2009 as
DISTRACTED DRIVING
Damage Totals from
Distracted Driving = Cell-phones

Much of the available statistics on this issue are from
the U.S.A. where:
1.2 million collisions a year or 21% of all collisions
involve cell-phone conversations
 Minimum of 100,000 collisions or 2% involve
texting
 Total = 23% of all Motor Vehicle Collisions involve
cell phone use.

Risk for New and Experienced Drivers

We know that increased driving skill comes from
increased practise and dealing with different scenarios,
road conditions, traffic patterns

Sometimes risky behaviour comes from those least
experienced with driving but even experienced drivers
can become complacent about the real risks and begin
undertaking risky behaviours.

Many of us treat the car as a safe “cocoon”.
Driving is a Complex Task
Driving a motor vehicle is a complex activity:
Knowing the rules of the road
 Hand-eye coordination
 Focused concentration of our mind.

Attention = Visual + Mechanical + Cognitive
Hands-Free and Hand-held: Both Risky



Many people think hands-free phones are safer than
hand-held ones, but with both our brain is affected and
a safety risk results.
If we end up talking longer because we feel safer, then
hands-free phones become even more of a problem.
Most legislation, including ours in Nova Scotia from
April 2008 only banned hand-held devices. Hands-free
ones are currently legal and many employer policies
allow them.
Even though illegal -we still do it.


Operating a hand-held cell phone in Nova
Scotia is illegal. Many people still do it.
Why?
The Multitasking Myth


The brain does not multitask when performing two
tasks at the same time.
The brain functions sequentially, switching from one
task to the other.
What happens when you are watching your
favourite television show and your friend phones
and you try to talk and watch the show?
Too Much to Attend to?



The brain will filter information due to sensory
overload. You will not be aware of the information
being filtered out.
 You will not know what you do not know.
Information will not get stored in memory
As a driver, you will miss critical information on
potential hazards
Inattention Blindness


“looking” but not “seeing” is a type of cognitive
distraction
Even “hands-free” drivers are less likely to see:
 High and low relevant objects
 Visual cues
 Exits, red lights and stop signs
 Navigational signage
 Content of objects
MRI shows a 37% Decrease in Parietal Lobe
Activation
The parietal lobe plays important roles in integrating sensory
information from various parts of the body, knowledge of numbers
and their relations, and in the manipulation of objects.
Driving Alone
©National Safety Council
2010
Driving with
Sentence Listening
What is currently being done to address
Impaired and Distracted Driving
in your community?
Is there more we can be doing to help
save lives?