Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 3, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba A13 Winnipeg free press thursday August 3, 2006 from newest and beyond the Call of death cellphones and other gadgets make driving a lot More dangerous definitive study that conclusively links do while behind the wheel. We Are wit b retain recently joined some cellphone use to Driver distraction to Nessing the dumping of the Driver. 40 countries such As aus crashes. But we have enough convince what is especially frightening is that Thalia Sweden Israel and ing evidence today that is begging for Drivers aged 16 to 19, who already Norway in announcing legis immediate action. Yet governments at have the worst crash rates Are the lation Banning the use of hand held All Levels sit by idly ignoring this risk ones most Likely to be using cellphones cellphones while driving. On april 1, to everyday Drivers. The risk of crash and these gadgets while driving. 2003, Newfoundland became the first ing while talking on a cellphone and recently in Australia a woman and Only province in Canada to do so. Driving is increased by four to six walked free after having killed a More than 95 per cent of the Popula times according to various studies. Cyclist while text messaging on her Tion had support Canada is a dangerous place to drive phone. How Many legislators and poli de such a ban make no mistake about it. Every year by makers even know what text Mes prior to its close to 3,000 of our Neighbours die on saying on a cellphone is implementation. Our roadways and in hospitals As a Japan a Voda fone Kkt now has a cell several differ result of collisions. But the deaths Are phone capable of receiving television ent Well designed just the tip of the iceberg thousands of signals. Great. Why not watch to and executed others Are needlessly injured and per while travelling Down some dirt Road or studies Over the Manenty disabled. Not All from cell through a school zone it is fairly Safe past seven years phone use but mostly by Driver to say that in Canada we Are unlikely to have shown that distraction and inattention. The Esti see such a ban on cellphone use for a you cannot drive mated associated $25 billion in annual variety of reasons. We always seem to safely and use a costs Are staggering and totally pre be the last to use common sense when cellphone Dic table and preventable. It comes to Road safety. The lobbying whether it is hand held or hands free. What concerns me More than the pressure from the wireless telecoms it is the conversation that is the Dis current cellphone debate is the emerge Mun cations Industry is enormous and traction and the More heated the con ing trend towards the increasing use will continue to intensify. The growth versa Ion the greater the distraction. And marketing of Tele Matics within the of cellphone users is beyond anyone a breaking up with a Lover getting fired vehicle. Did players fax machines wildest expectation. Idle cellphones do missing a deadline being late for an printers satellite navigation systems not generate profits. Important meeting finding out where on Star computers and countless there Are benefits to having a cell to pick up the kids closing a Deal or other gadgets that Are designed to phone in the vehicle in the Case of an just Idle teenage chatter distracts us make us More comfortable and pro emergency. But it should be turned off from the task at hand driving safely. Ductile in the vehicle Are distractions and available Only if needed. Even Sug other passengers in the vehicle can that Are killing and maiming us need Gesting that Drivers pull Over to the and do adjust their conversations Lessly. Side of the Road if they get a Call is depending on the traffic density the the technology being introduced insane. Do we know that pulling Over Speed the weather conditions and so into our vehicles is running Way ahead and then trying to get Back into traffic on the person at the other end of the of the legislation required to ensure is not As dangerous phone cannot help the Driver out in this that driving is simply that ? driving. A the solution then is simple. We regard. Drivers attention now has to compete should be following the Lead of some it would be impossible to get a final with a whole new array of fun things to industries. Sterling Crane has a Compa fear and anger in Africa a Madhouse k Kinshasa Congo ? if you Ever want to experience True fear stand among four military officers holding you Down on an isolated Back Road in the Congo while you try to fight your Way out of their grip. My Friend Willy Haliski Mush Agalua a Winnipeg elections observer Here who spent most of his life in the Congo before he became a Cana Dian has told me before that he is endlessly frustrated when he hears All the Nasty things people say about life in Kinshasa ? what others Nick name the Madhouse of Africa. In a City where life is cheap ask about the economic desperation drives people to Inge Nious Means i be Learned Here although the demonstrators who be lost their lives Here in form Enterprise takes in such dire Circum recent weeks during political rallies its a con Stant Battle not to walk around with a sense of stances varies greatly depending on the integrity of those involved. Anger. Unfortunately for the thousands of mama i try not to which is Why i take a morning jog each Day out by the crumbling Palace of former Boyo a you la meet in everyday life Here each Day those that usually grab the headlines Are dictator Mobutu sese seko. Next to the sprawl those who take the easiest Way out of desperation ing gardens now overrun with weeds where Lions once lounged in the grass to impress Visi by Force. Which brings me Back to my morning jog. Tors i try to imagine the grandeur of the Conti it does to take a Genius to figure out four men nent once lionized by victorian writers. Instead i pass next to a crumbling Centre patrolled by in uniform spread across a Road and walking towards me probably weren to planning to Tell me crowds of bored military guards where i liter do up my shoelaces particularly when they re ally ran into trouble this week. But lets rewind. Toting Large firearms. Where i started trembling was when ? in a Kinshasa can be kind. It can be gentle. Country where the military is famed for claiming when standing next to congolese participating in their first presidential and parliamentary elec their unpaid salaries by common bribes and amusement by common violence particularly tons this week i was struck by one thing ? the against women ? the four men gripped me and number of people Here so passionate so proud so eager to change the havoc that has been the started shaking me As i tried to slip out of their grip. I had no Money to give As they loudly state of their country for the last 40 years. Demanded and i admit i was terrified. For every Corner of madness in this City there a another Corner of Opportunity and Calm however a crowd began gathering As the guards yelled at me women and children slip which is Why Marte Boyo saw an Opportunity Ping out of the Trees and Bushes to surround me. When United nations troops surrounded their Headquarters Here with Kilometres of thick one threadbare Young Mother grabbed my hand and pushed them away. Barbed wire to protect themselves from rioters come with me she said in French. She shutting off sections of the downtown Street from traffic. Pointed to a Trail nearby and stood in front of the men with the other Young mothers directing Tell people in Canada not to forget us said me to run through the Trees. She demanded Noth Boyo yesterday standing in the tiny Patio she a carved out in front of her Shack from which she ing. I ran. The guards stayed. And i left her there. Sells drinks thanks to the barbed wire that stops i wont lie Kinshasa can be a scary place ? cars from travelling Down the thoroughfare. Boyo has built a bustling business by using the but i Don to want to Tell the stories solely of those who pick the easy Way out. In every Nook and Cut off space As an Oasis of Calm in this crazy crack and cranny there a also those who have City where parched bystanders can grab a bottle of pop and sit in the Shade along with the help of chosen a courageous form of survival and who show up every so often to remind you that her two daughters. She pays no rent for the they re Here too. Space and she a earning a living ? no Small feat i Hope in this baby democracy they Are the in a City where the unemployment rate is Esti ones leading their country in its future. If a tree mated to be 90 per cent. Once grew in Brooklyn then a business Here can they needed to keep people out and i want grow beside barbed wire and on a Kinshasa backed to bring people in she says As All the regu Road one woman can set you free. Lar visitors Here Pat her Back and Call her mama a congolese greeting of respect for female Winnipeg free press reporter Gabrielle Giro Day elders. While the barbed wire keeps rioters out is in the democratic Republic of Congo to observe she adds its the Linchpin of her self named Busi that country selections. Ness. The barbed wires been Here for two years we be been Here for one. You make Opportunity where you find it.?. by policy Banning the use of any cell phone in a moving company vehicle. Other civilly responsible organizations Are joining the recently formed coalition for cell phone free driving each Day across the country. Do not use a cellphone yourself in your private vehicle no matter How great a Driver you think you Are and we All do. The risk is not Worth it break your addiction to yakking on a cellphone while driving before it kills you or someone else. No Call is Worth the risk. You aint seen nothing yet my friends. I predict that driving will actually become More dangerous As a result of this new wave and movement towards in vehicle Tele Matics and cell phones Are just the beginning. Politicians need to Wake up and Stop this insanity immediately. The Canadian health care system can no longer afford the associated costs and Burden. Or. Louis Hugo Francescutti is a professor of Public health sciences at the University of Alberta and a physician in emergency and preventive Medicine ;