Are you distracted?
Posted Oct 5, 2010 08:50:03 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO – A new poll suggests Canadians are driven to distraction behind the wheel — and many don’t even know it.
The Leger Marketing poll suggests three out of every four Canadian motorists are focusing on something other than driving.
The poll, commissioned by insurance company Allstate Canada, also found that respondents had a very narrow view of what they considered to be driving while distracted.
While nearly 90 per cent of the poll’s 16-hundred respondents had a negative view of texting while driving, Allstate says fewer than 20 per cent saw adjusting the radio as a distraction.
Allstate spokeswoman Saskia Matheson says their research suggests Canadians don’t fully understand what is considered a driving distraction.
According to Allstate’s own statistics, eight out of 10 collisions in Canada are caused by distracted driving.
The company says taking one’s eyes off the road for five seconds while driving at 90 kilometres per hour is the equivalent of driving the length of a football field completely blind.
The online survey carries a margin of error that’s plus or minus 2.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
