What Are The Biggest Causes of Trouble On Our Roads? Sgt. Kerry Schmidt of HEAVY RESCUE: 401 Reveals His Updated List

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede The “Big 3” has become the “Big 4” for Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Kerry Schmidt of HEAVY RESCUE: 401, and in this instance growth is definitely not a good thing. “We used to list impaired driving, aggressive driving, and seatbelt use as the ‘Big 3’ causal factors of injury and death on our highways,” Sgt. Schmidt explained. “Within the past 10 years, we’ve actually added a fourth – distracted driving – and now we call it the ‘Big 4.’ ” Season 4 of the Canadian Original series HEAVY RESCUE: 401 airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on Discovery. Sgt. Schmidt is proud to be part of the show, because he feels it offers a behind-the-scenes look at the key reasons for preventative measures and also the complexities of the cleanups after accidents occur. Here’s what Sgt. Schmidt had to share about the state of affairs on Canada’s busy roads: Q: There was a massive pile-up in Montréal a couple of weeks ago. Do you pay attention to the news when those things occur, or do you get more than enough on the job? SGT. KERRY SCHMIDT: “I’m kind of a news guy as well, so when there’s something traffic-related that happens in an area outside of where I normally work, I’m still curious to see what’s going on, what were the causal factors, and how similar it is to what I deal with here in the GTA. An event like what happened in Montréal, I can appreciate the stress and anxiety that the first responders and law enforcement were going through, with the conditions they had, and trying to assess and clear the scene. It was a very tragic situation.” Q: Is weather usually the X factor when big accidents happen? SGT. KERRY SCHMIDT: “No, I wouldn’t say so, because road conditions and weather conditions don’t cause crashes. It’s usually bad driving or poor driving decisions. When you look at changing weather patterns, if drivers are entering into a white-out condition and they’re not able to stop or adjust their vehicles within the distance they can see, they’re putting themselves and everybody else on the highway in real jeopardy. You have to be driving in a manner that you can keep your vehicle in control with whatever obstacles are presented in front of you.” Q: You mentioned that distracted driving has been added to the list of major causal factors. How much has distracted driving changed the landscape? SGT. KERRY SCHMIDT: “Everyone should remember, distracted driving is not exclusively cell phones. There are so many other things that people may be distracted by, whether it’s a distraction within the vehicle, something you’re dealing with, maybe you’re eating, or chatting. And then there are the external distractions, traffic, billboards, just daydreaming and not zoning in. Drivers become complacent. You drive to work on the same roads, on the same route, at the same time every morning, but one day there’s construction, they close a lane, or there’s a crash and traffic is slow, and something catches you by surprise. If you’re not alert to those conditions, you often end up in the back of the vehicle in front of you. That is inattentive driving, because you weren’t conscious of the fact that there was a change in your environment.” Q: That must be a chronic issue now, because modern society tends to pull us in a hundred different directions. SGT. KERRY SCHMIDT: “We live in this ‘just in time’ world. We don’t give ourselves any buffer for unexpected delays. And there’s all kinds of technology in vehicles already, such as collision avoidance, and auto-braking, and cross-path technology. The technology is amazing, it’s beautiful. But any time your vehicle has to take over and auto-brake, that’s a failure on you. A lot of drivers who may have driven for 30, 40, 50 years, and have never been involved in a collision, they may actually believe they’re very good drivers, but they might not be driving in a manner that is responsible and sharing. Driving is a privilege. As police officers, we will take drivers who abuse their privileges off the road.” Q: If you could give one message to drivers who get caught in traffic jams behind accidents, what would it be? SGT. KERRY SCHMIDT: “We’re on your side! We’re not trying to inconvenience or frustrate motorists, but we need to do our jobs, and we will certainly get you moving as quickly as we can. Just wait for police direction. We don’t want people taking chances and going backwards up the ramp the wrong way, because that only causes more problems.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv