The Glare: A Campaign against Distracted Driving

The Glare Campaign of CAA
Worry over distracted driving up across the Country

CAA's glare campaign is definately a step in the right direction to raise awareness towards the issue of distracted driving. The concept of the campaign urges people to glare into the cars of distracted drivers as if some of us would if we were to get cut off by another driver. The goal is to make these drivers aware that what they are doing is just as bad as someone who drives recklessly. While doing so in certain neighborhoods would bring certain trouble, CAA's initiative is one of the first movements in Canada to focus on the distracted driving conversation. While several attempts to ban the use of cellphones by drivers have been shot down, distracted driving includes all aspects of distractions in the car and gives a shot of adrenalene to the responsible driving movement in Canada. We all know from the abundance of anti-drinking and driving commercials and PSAs that impaired driving is inexcusable even though some still participate in it. But to take on another source of automobile crashes in distracted driving, CAA has shown the importance of the steadily increasing bad habits drivers partake in. In fact, TIRF (Traffic Injury Research Foundation) found that 70% of Canadians now think that technology has led to an increase in distracted driving throughout the years, up from 30% in 2001. Hopefully, the number of injuries and fatalities at the hands of distracted driving doesn't have to reach the numbers that impaired driving claims every year in order for people to be more conscious about distracting themselves behind the wheel.

Jamie Chan
Summer Coordinator
Student Life NOW!

The Flooztastic Four

Lindsay Lohan...Another troubled celebrity for us to gawk and shake our heads at. We're all well aware of the many antics celebrities take part in by the grace of technology. But the rate at which Lindsay Lohan's current legal troubles are shooting through the grapevine is comical in a rather sad and pathetic way. As if Britney Spears' antics over the last year or so wasn't enough, Lohan's current coccaine possession and hostage-taking allegations puts the icing on the cake of celebrity stupidity. Doesn't there seem to be an increasing trend of female celebrities, all of whom are admired and adored by many teenage girls, finding themselves in trouble with the law or themselves? Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Nicole Ritchie... this list looks more like a hall of shame rather than a list of current popular culture icons that many females look up to. As you watch your brothers, sisters, cousins, and friends glued to the tube watching the latest celebrity buzz do you find yourself wishing that what you were watching was actually part of a movie? I certainly do. I can't say I'm thrilled that so many teens that I know find themselves obsessed with the lives of celebrities as if they were living these lives themselves. As powerful figures in North American culture, these women represent the troubling prospects of the ever-challenging search for female role models. Hopefully teenaged girls are smart enough to know that being dumb and living a life of excess doesn't equal a happy or fulfilling life. Furthermore, their actions have the potential to affect the teenage male's (and any male's for that matter) perception of females as a whole. It's bad enough that boys have to fight off their judgement-impairing raging hormones, but to have these celebrities as examples of successful women contributes nothing to lessen that blow. Is this the culture that we want our teens growing up in? These Drama Queens need to get schooled in a lesson on life.

Jamie Chan
Summer Coordinator
Student Life NOW!

Drinks Show a Model of Social Responsibility

This past weekend, the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) along with several other sponsors, held the Drinks Show at the Brickworks in Toronto. The event brings together liquor connoisseurs around the city to sample over 100 drink concoctions made of various liquors from around the world. While the sheer variety of drinks available at the show was impressive, even more impressive was the effort put forth by the LCBO to promote responsible drinking. Free shuttle buses were available from various downtown stops to the show with no available parking at the Brickworks. In addition to that, bottled water was also present at every booth for guests to take. Perhaps it was the older crowd involved as opposed to the Beer and Cocktails Show held in May, but nobody in the crowd appeared to be drunk out of their mind or anywhere close to it. The Drinks Show provides proof that if the hosts of an event makes a conscious effort to promote responsible drinking, partygoers tend to follow in line with the tone set by them. Kudos to the Drinks Show!

Here are some pics from the event:

Drunk Driving as Premeditated Murder?

Driver Charged after Crash kills Mother, hurts child
Impaired Charges Follow Mother's Death

Last night's drunk driving crash in Scarborough, which claimed the life of a mother and has left her 3-year old son in critical condition, brings up an ongoing debate as to whether drunk driving fatalities should be considered first degree murder. A person willingly drinks and knows full well the consequences of their decision to drive afterwards, so can we call that premeditated? While the debate is complicated by factors such as whether the person's BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) is over the limit, no person can truthfully judge the limits of their own alcohol tolerance. Did this driver think he was capable of driving after whatever amount of alcohol he consumed? Unfortunately, many of us make that judgement call on our own and that decision has the potential to lead to tragic results such as this one. It's a gamble that nobody can truly win from. If you drink and drive and survive to tell about it, would that make you feel good? It shouldn't. You tell yourself and others for that matter that you don't care how your irresponsible actions affect other people. How would you feel facing the husband of the woman you just killed because you were drunk?

Jamie Chan
Summer Coordinater
Student Life NOW!

Solution or Problem?

Police try to ERASE dangerous driving
Canadian race car champion Paul Tracy joins the fight to stamp out Extreme Driving

The recent crackdown by police on street racing and reckless driving on Toronto streets creates more issues than the one it solves. We have to ask ourselves who exactly are we penalizing, those who street race, or those who are car enthusiasts? It seems that the decision by police to randomly inspect "suspicious-looking" vehicles for illegal modifications does nothing but attempt to cloak the real problem behind a symbolic scare-straight tactic. "I'll get pulled over because I'm 21 and I've got an exhaust system" says one driver near his Nissan. Profiling car enthusiasts as street racers is no different than any other form of profiling by association. It unfairly discriminates against a person through no fault of their own, solely because of their surface appearance. We need to find a more effective and direct way of nailing speed demons on the road rather than stopping the first set of hot wheels we see.

Jamie Chan
Summer Coordinator
Student Life NOW!

Nitro's Success Shadowed

Nitro, the latest movie from Quebec, is currently the fifth highest grossing film in Canada, ahead of both Ratatouille and Die Hard IV. It is also the first Canadian movie to earn more money than American blockbusters opening on the 4th of July weekend in Canadian history. The movie has earned $ 698 700 after the first weekend opening exclusively in Quebec. Nitro is the story of a husband(played by Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge) whose wife needs a new heart. Promising to his son that she will stay alive, he has no other choice than to find a new heart...and the money to have it. Many years before, he had left the street racing world, but the situation forces him to get back in the game to fulfill a promise to his son to save his mother. Co-star Lucie Laurier plays Thivierge's old girlfriend with whom he will have to spend lot of time with in order to save his wife. So it's not only an action movie, but a drama with a hint of both love and family stories thrown in. The movie makes every Canadian proud to see a homegrown flick finally beat out the big Hollywood blockbusters. Unfortunately, it also indirectly promotes street racing, despite the morality of the character's motivation. Lost in the popularity and success of the film, the producers might not realize what the movie's images and influence can have on the audience of the film. Even if the producers didn't think the movie's success was based on its racing premise, the street scenes and depiction of irresponsible driving are numerous. It's just a shame that the first Canadian movie to reach as much success in the box-office in front of big Hollywood movies isn't a good exemple for youth. I don't think that a message telling viewers that street racing is really dangerous and not recommended is viewable at the beginning or the end of the movie, even if it would be a good thing.
Hopefully, youth will appreciate that movie...and will get back home responsibly and safely.

Kenza Sassi,
Summer Student,
Student Life Education Company
translated from french by Jamie Chan

Mitsubishi Missing the Message

Mitsubishi 'street racing' ad reviewed

Mitsubishi Motors Canada's recent ad featuring their rally-inspired 2008 Lancer has created controversy in the GTA with the recent rash of highway crashes caused by street racing. This article released today gives light to the controversy and the PR move by Mitsubishi in considering to "review" the commercial after its current advertising run. However, no mention is made by the Mitsubishi Motors representative to the effect of removing elements promoting street racing in future ads. Mitsubishi Motors finds itself in the position to choose between appeasing the public outcry against its marketing strategy or alienating its youth market by downplaying the company's "racing heritage". The simple move of putting an end to the ad and any future promotion of street racing is more far-fetched than most would think. For years, Subaru and Mitsubishi battled head-to-head for pole position in the World Rally Circuit. Both companies have boasted in the past for having a proud rally heritage and both have established a reputation for importing some of the most underrated "pocket-rockets" on the car market today. The well-publicized and scrutinized release of 2001's "The Fast and the Furious" film, launched both companies into a new stratosphere in the eyes of both hardcore and casual racing enthusiasts. Both companies benefited from this, seeing their sales in the US soar. Mitsubishi Motors received such high demand for their cars that they decided to bring the brand north of the border in 2002 to steal some of the market share from rival Subaru. The difference between the two companies today? Mitsubishi promotes its vehicles through its racing history. Subaru's marketing strategy focuses on its all-wheel drive technology and the winter capabilities of such models as the Forester and Legacy. If Subaru can survive without promoting their racing models like the WRX or WRX STi to the public in their ads, Mitsubishi should be able to as well. "Under review" = Sweeping the controversy under the rug. Street racing is a problem that no company should be proud to promote and as we've seen over the years, it often claims the lives of the most undeserving and unwilling of participants in crashes. That's one aspect of the subject that no company should be proud to promote.


Jamie C
Summer Coordinator
Student Life NOW!