Our View: Only serious change in mentality will stop drivers using phones
Cyprus seems to have escaped any major tragedy on the roads this holiday season thankfully but we’re not out of the woods yet. If today, tonight and tomorrow pass without a fatality, it can be considered a win but absolutely not a reason to brag or become complacent.
We’re all familiar with the main reasons for traffic accidents – speeding and drink driving – so it was a bit of an eyeopener when the minsters of justice and transport recently revealed the extent of accidents caused by distracted drivers.
They said that 19 of some 43 people killed on the roads this year died because drivers were using mobile phones or not paying attention. At almost half of total fatalities, that’s a pretty hefty share and really quite shocking, as if there were not enough reasons for road accidents as it is.
Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades said the scale of deaths linked directly to phones could “not be tolerated” and demanded the road safety council meet ahead of schedule in January. He said immediate measures were needed.
Vafeades said that every driver needs to accept that using a phone behind the wheel “placed themselves, their families and all others on the road at risk.”
Rhetoric is cheap, and short of absolutely draconian penalties and massive law enforcement, many people will continue to use their phones in the same way as many drivers still speed and drive drunk. It’s a mentality.
If distracted driving is becoming such a danger and they really want to do something about it, authorities will need to break down which of those 19 accidents were directly linked to firstly GPS use such as typing in an address while driving or some other factor. Were any related to hands-free calls, texting, checking social media while driving or watching TikTok videos on their dashboards?
A wild guess would put it down to texting and checking social media for the most part. People today don’t seem to have enough self-restraint to put the phone down for five minutes, not just while driving but in almost every social setting.
On what can be done, there are usually two approaches that work – the carrot and the stick.
Clearly the stick is not working, mainly because the fines are not high enough. They should actually be exorbitant so that word gets around that even if there is a remote chance of getting caught, the possibility of a huge fine would make it not worth the risk.
Of course, the government would have to ignore the bleating of populist parties that would likely try to shield “poor” drivers from larger fines. If someone can’t afford a fine as a result of texting, then they should just not break the law. Simple.
On the carrot end, some countries are using AI and launching apps that rack up points by tracking whether a phone is in use during a drive and for what reason. Users are then rewarded with points they can redeem against lower insurance payments or road taxes. Surely, it would not be a difficult system to set up, particularly a road tax reward system, which would be a start.