The other day I picked up the December, 2009 issue of Senior Living and was impressed by the diversity of the articles within. A Saskatchewan Government News Release about the introduction of legislation to ban hand-held cell phone use while driving caught my eye. Dale McFee, Chief of Prince Albert Police Service and President of the Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police supports this legislation to be introduced January 1, 2010 and was quoted to say: "When we hear the facts showing that a person is 23 times more likely to be in a collision when texting and driving, and when we have responded to collisions that have led to injury or death, it is very easy to see why we need this type of action to enhance safety."

The News Release went on further to say that Saskatchewan now joins a number of Canadian jurisdictions, American states and more than 50 countries world-wide that have similar cell phone bans. There is no doubt in my mind this legislation will be instrumental in saving lives and preventing the human costs of pain and suffering.

According to SGI, driver inattention or distraction is said to account for 35% of all factors that cause crashes involving injuries or deaths in this province. The distraction of cell phone use while driving has most definitely been instrumental in contributing to the 6,846 personal injuries and 143 deaths on Saskatchewan roadways in 2007, for instance.

While our province joins other jurisdictions in banning hand-held cell phone use while driving, why don't we as individuals take a lead in extending our own personal ban on both hand-held and hands-free cell phones? In my September 10, 2009 blog I referred to a 2007 study conducted by the University of Calgary (U of C) that shows the hazard posed by using either a hand-held cell phone or a hands-free cell phone are essentially the same.

Here's a quote from the study: "Handheld and hands-free phones produced similar mean RT (reaction time) effect sizes, such that the meta-analytic estimates for each type of phone were essentially the same. Common sense and urban legend suggest that hands-free phones may be safer to use while driving, but handheld and hands-free phones produced similar performance decrements." The detailed U of C study can be viewed at http://www.scribd.com/doc/4525270/A-MetaAnalysis-of-the-Effects-of-Cell-Phones-on-Driver-Performance.

Be an individual who is active in life saving injury prevention work. Make a difference.

Choose to give one or more of the following gifts this Holiday Season and always:

• make a personal choice not to use your hand-held or hands-free cell phone while you are driving;
• provide a good example to your children or grandchildren by always pulling to the side of the road if you need to use your cell phone;
• be the person who introduces and/or supports a policy in your workplace to ban the use of all types of cell phones while driving on company business; and/or
• send the link to this blog or the U of C research study to your friends or other people in your network.

Merry Christmas and best wishes for a safe, healthy and happy Holiday Season to you all!!