The recommendation was made by Coroner Michel Ferland who held an inquest into the death of Jimmy Rotondo who was killed on a highway in Laval, Quebec.
On March 3 of this year, Rotondo, who was part of the Montreal racing community and worked as a truck driver, was travelling on a Quebec highway. A car had broken down up ahead and orange cones were placed at the scene. Rotondo died when he smashed into a truck in front of him that had slowed down because of the obstacle on the road. The cab of the truck Rotondo was driving was crushed, trapping him inside.
Evidence revealed there were no skid marks on the highway and that, together with the severity of the impact, led the coroner to conclude Rotondo had only braked at the last minute. A cellphone was found on the floor of the cab and records indicated he had posted something on Facebook just minutes before the crash.
Ferland admitted that while it cannot be proved beyond a reasonable doubt Rotondo was using his phone at the time of the crash, the evidence indicated he was obviously distracted by something. In his report, the coroner described texting while driving as a “plague,” noting some people are so dependent upon their phones they are willing to risk their lives.
Currently, distracted driving in Canada is covered by provincial legislation. While convictions under these laws can result in fines, loss of demerit points and higher insurance rates, they are provincial offences rather than crimes. Ferland is proposing texting while driving be put into the federal Criminal Code of Canada, making it a crime. It would be similar to the offences of impaired driving and driving over 80. Anyone who would be convicted of texting while driving would have a criminal record and be subject to punishments that include the possibility of a jail sentence and a mandatory driving prohibition.
In addition, Ferland recommended police be given more power to be able to extract information from the cellphones of drivers who are believed to have been texting while driving.
The Globe and Mail reports another Quebec coroner, Renée Russell, went even further in a report about another death issued last month. Russell recommended a ban on all cellphone use while driving; not only handheld devices but hands-free phones as well. Studies have been done such as one by the University of Sussex that show talking on a hands-free phone is just as distracting as talking on a handheld one.
A U.S. study has shown drivers who are texting are 23 times more likely to be in an accident or have a near-miss than drivers who are not distracted.
Ferland’s coroner’s report has been forwarded to the federal Department of Justice for consideration.
