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tribune i december 5 1990 p19 driver attitudes must change to reduce risk in todays mobile society the car has become almost a second home the average canadian travels 23000 kilometres 14000 miles each year this means that each person spends 368 hours or the equivalent of is solid days in the car everything about our cars has been designed to make driving a more enjoyable experience tele phones stereos air conditioning comfortable seating everything that is but todays driver most accidents are still caused by momentary inattention weve all been guilty we lean over to adjust the radio turn to comfort a child think of the next meeting at work alison macdonald of the canada safety council says with far more cars and drivers on the roads today the risk of collision increas es but the fact remains that 85 per cent of all collisions are still caused by driver error people must take- driving more seriously and realize that every car is a potential weapon grant smith chief of road safe ty promotion at transport canada agrees there is an increasing emphasis on the words collision or crash rather than accident when describing traffic problems accident implies an act of god but traffic collisions or crashes often are not accidental people cause them through a combination of educa tion and enforcement police and insurance firm are trying to coun teract this fatalistic and often fatal approach to driving randys refrigeration appliance service 100 sandiford drive unit 33 new used appliance sale hwy48 sandiford if till stouflvie randys refrig 6404747 family restaurant bar christmas parties business lunches 1 2 sport video screen friday saturday dancing 9441 hwy 48 markham road justjmdrth of sunkist plaza 4724655 farmer kicks gardens inc y garden center 6405080 6405080 gormleyfya sromie kmd hwy47 si hwy 7 skxjffvue s major ttocbceol s main st stouffville r i i 200offpurchaseofl6ft t scotch pine plus i u free christmas tree disposal bag j j while quantities last j this voucher must be presented at the time of purchase cedar pine garlands cuttosuit be sure of dry firewood buy now sfllx jsssk stouffville fish chips 509 mam st stouffville 6401732 open 7 dats a week now serving garden salad 1 00 off the purchase of 1 full order j of halibut fish chips v i m spujpou vrfiduntadecw1990 r free mats room size remnants from before you buy give us atry we specialize in servicing builders and contractors liinnpli carpets newmarkets largest sel orln 125 harry walker pkwy newmarket hoorsmontuosfri9ojn5pm wed thurs 9 am8 pm sal10ajnspm jwlotthwy404 hopytpr 8368029 tor 7739581 learning to tie knots like sheepshanks bowlines and grannys helped prove r to my parents i really s wasnt all fingers and thumbs they began to respect me because people can- cause crash the magnitude of the collision problem is staggering in 1989 4221 people were killed and 284234 others were injured on canadas roads that same year private insur ance companies paid out more than 5 billion in total claims costs up from 45 billion in 1988 some people estimate that the indirect cost of collisions both to the health care system and in lost productivity ranges between 7 and 10 billion annually today traffic accidents are the number one cause of death for canadians under age 45 this rep resents a crushing loss in human potential eachyear yet the public remains largely unconcerned many drivers say well im a good driver so i never have accidents yet every driver is paying the price in increased insurance premiums and in the indirect expenses that drive up taxes and thecost of doing busi ness in this country jack lyndon president of the insurance bureau of canada says quite simply there is an epidem ic on our roads the insurance industry sees the results of this epidemic every day we believe it is time to convince people that the cost of traffic collisions both in dollars and in human suffering has become far too high what people often dont realize according to mr lyndon is the relationship between collisions and insurance premiums x insurance premiums go into a pool of funds from which claims costs are paid out this means that a cost of settling claims goes up with the increased frequency and severity of accidents- so do insur ance premiums in order- to help reduce colli sions canadas general insurance companies are intensifying their commitment to road safety for many years the insurance bureau has played an important role inldentifying new road safety issues and in acting as a catalyst to increase public concern says mr lyndon for example we were instrumental in bringing the prob- lems of young drivers and drink ing and driving to the attention of the canadian public the insurance bureau of canada also works closely with police forces to provide informational support to major enforcement campaigns it is the police who see the results of road crashes every day of their working lives thomas ogrady commissioner of the ontario provincial police says public awareness and edu cation campaigns are playing an increasingly important role in aug menting the impact of enforcement programs experts agree that ultimately the only way to solve the problem of car collisions is to change pub lic attitudes each driver has to take responsi bility for his or her own actions and remember that they share the road with other cars trucks bicy- cles motorcycles and pedestrians everyone must consider how their actions affect others as the pace of life becomes ever more hectic and the number of cars on the road increases every one has a responsibility to drive more safely if they want to reduce the high risk of traffic deaths ad serious injuries the car crash problem begins with each one of us and so does the solution