Phones as deadly as alcohol on crowded roads
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Global Times, July 25, 2011
Since May 1, there has been a dramatic behavioral difference in millions of Chinese drivers. Not a personality change, since unfortunately they are still as rude, aggressive and hot-blooded as ever.
The amount of alcohol in their bloodstream, however, has declined dramatically, in reaction to the newly strengthened Road Traffic Safety Law. With this change, the number of road accidents, deaths and injuries should also be declining.
The next frontier to reduce needless deaths and injuries that should get the government's attention here is driving while distracted. Several Chinese examples and recent developments in the US offer some invaluable lessons.
Why does the new drunk-driving law work so well? The answer is simple. The law has very sharp teeth indeed! Most people do not change their behavior just to be pro-social or to be good citizens. They respond to carrots and sticks - seeking rewards or avoiding pain.
The new law with criminal penalties including long-term jail time and a permanent loss of license has focused the attention of many who may have driven drunk before the new law went into effect.
By itself, the new law would have been ineffective without two key elements. The first was an effective publicity blitz about the law and its consequences. The second was the public knowing that the law would be strictly enforced.
The campaign was helped by the arrest of a seriously-drunk TV personality, Gao Xiaosong, days after the new law took effect. Gao's only involvement with television during his six month sentence will be watching TV inside the prison where he is currently incarcerated, assuming that he is provided with such a luxury.
Contrast this with the new smoking ban. If a law was ever a toothless tiger, this is it. Go into just about any restaurant in China and you will be enveloped by thick tobacco smoke. It's business as usual because there appears to be zero-enforcement, rather than the zero tolerance. The public aren't stupid: they know they can smoke as much as they want with virtually no chance of punishment. Respect for the law goes up in smoke one cigarette at a time.
These Chinese examples find confirmation in recent days in the US in the area of distracted driving. Although talking on a mobile phone, texting or watching TV seem harmless enough, they are anything but.
In the US in 2009 nearly 5,500 deaths and 500,000 injuries resulted from crashes involving a distracted driver, according to the Department of Transportation. Overall, distraction-related fatalities represented 16?percent of total traffic fatalities that year.
Research demonstrates that drivers talking on a phone are four times as likely to get into a crash as those who are not, and that the risks for texting drivers are at least twice as high as those who don't. There are clearly lots of lives and limbs at stake here.
Confirming the Chinese experience, findings of a federal two-city distracted driving study released earlier this month showed dramatic results in Syracuse, NY and Hartford, CT using the same strategy as used here for the drunk-driving laws: tough laws, strong enforcement and ongoing public awareness.
In Syracuse, handheld mobile phone use and texting each fell by a third. In Hartford, handheld mobile phone use by drivers fell 57 percent while texting fell by 75 percent.
And stricter enforcement not only significantly reduced dangerous behavior, it also raised money for the government in the form of fines.
I hope my friends will forgive me for saying this, but the Chinese do drive so much worse than Americans. More people, especially young ones, engage in problematic behavior like drunken and distracted driving here. So I believe that more aggressive enforcement will result in bigger potential gains.
I predict that enacting and enforcing a tough-love distracted driving law in China will pay many dividends.
More of the people we love will be spared from death and serious injury. More funds from fines will flow into government coffers, available to serve the public good. And unlike the smoking ban, respect for law and order will be enhanced.
Only one of my friends still drinks and drives, as well as texts and talks. He either has a death-wish or is under too much work pressure. I worry that he will eventually end up punished for his recklessness. I only hope that he will have a TV in his jail cell.
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