Ontario teens tally distracted drivers, go on 23-hour tech fast for campaign

A group of high school students in Mississauga, Ont. completed a 23-hour technology fast on Friday, as part of a larger campaign around distracted driving, led by Allstate Canada.

The 60 teens at Rick Hansen Secondary School were the first in Canada to participate in Distraction-Free 23, developed for the fact that drivers are 23 times more likely to crash if driving distracted, according to Allstate.

Students from the school, who handed over their technology devices on Thursday afternoon, spent the night at the school and took part in a variety of team building exercises and workshops.

“This is the fourth year that we have operated our Action Against Distraction programs to raise awareness about the risks and consequences of distracted driving,” noted Saskia Matheson, a spokesperson for Allstate Canada.

“DF-23 came about when we put the fact that the number one cause of death among Canadian youth is car collisions together with the knowledge that teens are also the most active on tech devices, like mobile phones and music players,” Matheson noted.

Allstate’s campaign will culminate in a national event on Nov. 22 to Nov. 23., but in the meantime, Allstate is encouraging teens to go on their own 23-hour tech detoxes.

In a survey earlier this year commissioned by the insurer, 90% of respondents admitted to some form of distraction behind the wheel, a 15% increase since Allstate Canada conducted a similar survey in 2010.

Earlier in the week, as part of Allstate’s “Just Drive” campaign, high school students throughout Canada also participated in a tally exercise, counting how many distracted drivers they observed in a one hour period at busy intersections.

A total of 3,957 distractions were found by students and Allstate employees in Sherwood Park, Alta.; Edmonton; Toronto; Brampton, Ont.; Whitby, Ont.; Thornhill, Ont.; Mississauga, Niagara Falls; Windsor, Ont.; Kingston, Ont.; Peterborough, Ont.; Thunder Bay, Ont.; Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.; Ottawa, Montreal and Moncton.

Results from driver tally include:

The most common distractions were eating and drinking (18.5% of all distracted drivers counted), talking to other passengers (17.6%) and smoking (12.8%).

Eighteen percent of all drivers were either talking on the phone or texting while driving.

Since Allstate Canada started holding the distracted driving tallies three years ago, the average number of distractions counted has increased each year. Students and Allstate Canada employees counted an average of 158 distractions per location in 2011, 201 distractions in 2012 and now an average of 247 distractions per location this year.