CELL PHONES IN CARS? BUT WHAT ABOUT ……..?

Cell phones in cars make life more convenient but they can be a distraction. Driver distraction is a factor in about 4 million motor vehicle crashes in North America each year. Remarkably, we have prioritized cell phone use. 

What about children in the car, specially crying infants? Children are four times more distracting than adults as passengers, and infants are eight times more distracting than adults as passengers. What about unsecured pets, or use of beverages, or cosmetics application while looking at oneself in the visor mirror? What about listening to music, a talk show, the news? And what about smoking weed in a blue cloud with a crowd and then climbing into cars and zoom, zoom. 

And what are drive-throughs for if not to obtain drinks and fast food to take away in a moving vehicle and consume while moving to a destination? That requires some driver attention. We want to reduce distractions from a driver's primary task because 80% of collisions and 65% of near crashes have some form of driver inattention as a contributing factor. 

It's true that cellphone distraction has a similar effect on driving, as does alcohol impairment. Distracted drivers are 3 times more likely to be in a crash than attentive drivers. Talking while driving may not be a major distraction but it does increase the risk of crashing up to 4 times. Texting increases the risk of crashing by up to 23 times. Government has taken action. We have identified cellphone use as a principal distraction and we have legislated a ban.

So, as of January 1, 2010 the use of cellphones or any handheld portable electronic devices by drivers is restricted in B.C. Drivers are not permitted to make or receive calls, send or read text messages or e-mails; cannot hold or operate any electronic device (i.e. cellphone, MP3 player, GPS Navigation System). The fine is $167 and 3 penalty points. 

Drivers can use hands-free cell phones and devices if they can be used by voice activation or pressing a single button once only. But here's the rub. It was thought that using a hands-free device while driving is safer than hands on. Studies show that hands-free cellphones distract drivers the same as hand-held phones.  It’s the conversation that distracts the driver – not the device. Economic losses caused by traffic collision-related health care costs and lost productivity are at least $10 billion annually. That's about 1% of Canada's GDP! (Government of Canada). Will we legislate on other causes of distraction as well? How will we monitor weed smoker’s behind the wheel?

ZIMBABWE - COUNTRY IN CRISIS

A NEW LEARNING
When my wife’s family moved from UK to Canada, her uncle’s family moved to Rhodesia now called Zimbabwe. They had a good life in this colonial atmosphere and then things changed. Civil War. Independence. Nationals took over. The family members moved back to the UK, being able to take no more than $2000 out of the country.

Don’t go to Zimbabwe for a vacation. In fact travel there is discouraged. Zimbabwe is in trouble, a state of emergency more accurately. It is facing several crises at once. There is political unrest that is threatening the country’s stability. As the humanitarian crisis deepens, pressure grew for President Robert Mugabe to step down. From June to August last year, President Mugabe banned international charitable organizations from operating, depriving more than a million people of food and basic aid after the country had already suffered one of its worst harvests.

The economy has bottomed and inflation is reported at 230-million percent which puts the price of food out of reach for the underprivileged. Money is worthless. Unemployment is at 93 percent. Cholera, a waterborne disease has spread to all ten of Zimbabwe's provinces because of the collapse of health and sanitation systems. The cholera death toll has topped 1700 and 24,000 others have been sickened since August. The country’s Health Minister warned that the epidemic may grow worse as the rainy season develops. Hospitals are full, floors as well as beds. There is food shortage. According to the United Nations, 5.5 million Zimbabweans need food assistance. Two-thirds of Zimbabweans are living on one meal or less per day. With little relief in sight, the most vulnerable parts of the populace, namely women and children, have been crossing the border into South Africa in hopes of a better chance of survival. Unaccompanied children, as many as 1,000 per month are fleeing. Life expectancy at birth for males in Zimbabwe has dramatically declined since 1990 from 60 to 37, among the lowest in the world. Life expectancy for females is even lower at 34 years.

In view of all of this Mugabe has remained defiant and rejected U.S. President George Bush's demand that he quit and blamed his country's troubles on international sanctions. One wonders whether the Obama administration may have a different outcome when it speaks to this international crisis.

This is where faith mission and relief groups once again demonstrate their value. Aid is being provided by numerous ministry operations. Cholera medication, antibiotics and rehydration medication, water filters, millions of meals. But none of this happens without the financial gifts of ordinary people such as us in the Western world where downturn is being experienced but at a comparatively superficial level.

See this site for a list of groups working in Zimbabwe