SELKIRK, Man. – No one would be crazy enough to text message while driving, right? Wrong.
Even careful drivers sometimes use cellphones, so teenagers are likely to take even bigger risks.
“I’m guilty of (talking on a cellphone while driving) myself,” said Rivers Women’s Institute member Dianne Kowalchuk in an interview.
“Sometimes when the phone rings and I’m on the road, I answer it. But I like to think that when legislation is in place, that won’t happen any more.”
The Manitoba Women’s Institute heard at its annual convention May 15-16 in Selkirk that many people can be seen using phones on rural roads these days. The practice has also been fingered as a possible culprit in a fatal accident outside Rivers last year.
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That’s why the MWI passed a resolution supporting the Manitoba government’s drive to ban the use of handheld communication devices for people driving vehicles.
“Knowing how young people use cellphones to text message, it wouldn’t be surprising (if there are more deaths),” said Kowalchuk.
“There are many accidents waiting to happen, so we feel that text messaging, definitely, for sure, should not be allowed.”
When it proposed the resolution, the Rivers institute cited studies demonstrating the dangers of using cellphones while driving, including one that found drivers can be more impaired by a cellphone than alcohol.
Another found that text messaging while driving caused people to increase the amount of time they took their eyes off the road by four times.
A few years ago, the MWI passed a resolution supporting a ban of speaking into handheld cellphones while driving, but this latest resolution is an attempt to include new forms of communication.
The Saskatchewan Women’s Institute’s annual conference in Whitewood May 29-30 will also hear a resolution calling for a ban on cellphone and electronic device use while driving.
Kowalchuk has seen her daughter embrace text messaging and said the MWI needs to realize it’s a widespread practice now, so ensuring safe texting is essential.
“Texting is part of the culture of our youth,” said the resolution.
“They do it with ease and little thought. Those who text while driving must learn that such a practice is foolhardy and can cause irreparable harm.”
