WebStamp November 20, 2019
Untrained Driver Winter Mayhem
With the 3 recent major snowfalls to fall upon Calgary since September, each time there were over 250 vehicle crashes. This implies that many drivers are not properly trained to handle winter road conditions. The government hasn’t gone far enough with legislating mandatory entry-level training (MELT) for commercial truck drivers imposed after the Humbolt Broncos bus crash. It seems that obtaining the privilege of driving one should be trained for the road conditions they will encounter for safer roads.
Quebec is the only province to legislate that all new drivers attend driver training. In an effort to increase road safety, Quebec requires new drivers to have 24 hours of theoretical instruction and 15 hours of one-hour on-road instruction before they are issued a license. 88% of Canadians agree that driver training should be mandatory for all new drivers, so why is the government waiting to implement the changes that the majority want?
Surveys show that the majority, 62% of Canadian drivers, have taken some form of driver training.
The question is, how much of this training included winter or defensive driver training? Statics also show that almost 45% of crashes involve new drivers. Wouldn’t it be nice to reduce traffic incidences by having new drivers take winter and defensive driver training?
New drivers that take driver training can also save money with discounts offered by insurance companies for those that have completed the courses. Having properly trained drivers on the roads means fewer collisions which save the insurance companies money. If the insurance companies pay fewer claims then our rates don’t have to be so high because of improperly trained new drivers.
There are so many drivers on the roads that should’ve been trained to navigate the roads properly. Many drivers need to learn to keep their distance, drive the posted speed and not block traffic, signal and merge properly, and not cross two lanes when turning just to name a few bad habits.
Make A Difference reducing traffic collisions by making the M.A.D. Move to contact your elected officials to implement laws requiring new drivers to enroll in a winter/defensive driver training course. It sure would be great to drive on safer roads considering they are getting busier.
Articles in this Issue
WebStamp November 20, 2019
References:
https://calgary.weatherstats.ca/metrics/snow.html
https://www.insurancehotline.com/resources/drivers-training-is-it-really-necessary-infographic/
https://www.gprc.ab.ca/doc.php?d=Mandatory%20Entry%20Level%20Training%20FAQ
https://icandrive.ca/qc/licence/class-5-probationary
https://www.alberta.ca/class-5-driver-training.aspx
https://www.german-way.com/travel-and-tourism/driving-in-europe/driving/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0386111211000033
https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/9z9lex/drivers license standards need to be stricter/