Teachers, distracted driving, and smoking

Egerton Chang, Contributor

I taught for one year at St George's College and wrote about it in 'Lessons from St George's' published Sunday, April 18, 2010. I wrote, inter alia:

I received $240 per month in those days (1971-72) for my teaching. I think it was $200 per month basic pay with an additional $20 per month for my first-class honours in chemistry (thanks, Father O'Toole) and a further $20 per month for my first-class honours in physics (thanks, Father McCluskey).

Further, I was more than pleasantly surprised to find that I got paid even when I wasn't 'working'. I got paid during holiday breaks like Christmas, Easter and summer. It was inconceivable to me that I would be paid for doing nothing. It was a big bonus to me. Imagine being paid for not working. Maybe I was naïve or just honest with myself.

I could never complain about my teacher's pay.

Perhaps, if I had realised the true benefits of being in that profession, like being tenured after one or so years plus study leave with pay after that said period, I may have been persuaded to make teaching my lifelong vocation. And I feel I could have made a comfortable living from it. Particularly with the opportunity of conducting other activities, including extra classes and all.

I say this to say that instead of always (it seems) complaining that the pot is black (or isn't absolutely spotless), perhaps teachers should be thankful for the fact that they have been provided with a pot. With a pension, at that. Especially given the spot that Jamaica is now in. Oftentimes, the discourse seems to be just slightly above a market squabble.

What with the news that '20% of our children have educational deficiency' published June 12, 2013, The Gleaner's Barrington Flemming writes:

Minister of Education, the Reverend Ronald Thwaites, has blamed the lack of trained teachers in the early childhood sector for the 50 per cent failure rate of students sitting entry tests to attend primary schools.

We have some things that we need to correct in our early childhood system. Of the educators in the system, only 20-odd per cent of them are trained at all, so is it any wonder why close to 50 per cent of the children moving from early childhood institutions into grade one primary cannot pass the aptitude test?

With only 20-odd per cent of early childhood teachers being trained, one wonders if the study-leave programme could be more attuned to the needs of the students.

It isn't as if anyone is against supporting the teachers agitating for and getting the optimum benefits. That would be like being against motherhood and apple pie or bread pudding, as the case may be. But one senses that in supporting them we are being 'forced' to cover all their imperfections and sores. And we all know, as parents, that there are many.

Ban on driving while texting

In an article titled 'Drive on: 40th state bans texting in cars', Chris Woodyard, USA Today, May 25, 2013 writes:

Add Hawaii to the list of states that have banned texting while driving. The 50th state in the union becomes the 40th state to crack down on distracted motoring.

Not bad when you consider the movement to crack down on texters on wheels only began in 2007, about the same time that smartphones with that capability were first coming into widespread use.

In addition, the law signed by Gov Neil Abercrombie earlier this month also bans using a hand-held phone while driving. Hawaii becomes the 11th state with that provision, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association.

What about Jamaica? What are we doing about this dangerous driving distraction?

In a column published September 20, 2009, I wrote:

When contacted, Deputy Superintendent Wayne Cameron stated that, at present, the use of a cell phone while driving is not against the law. However, the police team assigned the task of working with the Ministry of Transport and Works on a revised Road Traffic Law has recommended that it be outlawed.

"The proposed changes in the Road Traffic Act will soon be tabled in Parliament," DSP Cameron said.

On September 23, 2012, I updated this as follows:

I recently checked with SSP Radcliffe Lewis, who says, 'The Legislation Committee is now fine-tuning its submission, which will go to the parliamentary counsel, then to Cabinet.

"It will definitely go through the entire process and become law within a year," the lawman offered.

With all due respect, however, isn't two years and counting a trifle long for promulgation of a law that is urgently needed?

I repeat, isn't three years and counting more than a trifle long?

I must admit here that I have been known to text while at a traffic light and have been beeped more than once when not paying attention to the lights. But I cannot fly in the face of facts. Using a cell phone while driving is a dangerous added distraction.

Moreover, it's not as if the new fandangled hands-free devices are safe while driving either.

Janet Loehrke, Anne Carey and Larry Copeland, USA Today, on June 12, 2013 wrote in 'AAA: Hands-free texting and calling are not risk-free'.

The increasingly popular voice-activated, in-car technologies that allow drivers to text, talk on the phone or even use Facebook while driving still allow for dangerous mental distraction, according to a study.

In the most comprehensive study of its kind to look at drivers' mental distraction, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that as mental workload and distractions increase, reaction time slows, brain function is compromised, and drivers scan the road less and miss visual clues, researchers say. This could potentially result in drivers being unable to see items right in front of them, such as stop signs or pedestrians.

Ban smoking in public spaces

Ever since becoming a regular contributor to this newspaper, I have been advocating for this ban.

Speaking at the National World Diabetes Day breakfast meeting in Kingston in November last year, Health Minister Fenton Ferguson was reported to have said: "I am committed, as minister, to bringing, by the first quarter of financial year 2013-14, a (Comprehensive) Tobacco Control Act that will deal with a smoke-free workplace and public space. This is something we have to look at."

This same minister, when he was in opposition in May 2011, expressed disappointment with the Jamaican Government's delay in implementing a ban on smoking in public areas.

Ferguson said it was unacceptable for Jamaica to be a signatory to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) since 2005, and still be in breach of its obligations under the treaty.

Carreras itself, at least in public, has not been against this ban.

On May 31, 2011, Richard Pandohie, then managing director of Carreras Jamaica, was quoted thusly: "We want the legislation to come because it also is part of the requirements to deal with the illicit trade. It has to come, the Government has no choice, but we want all the facts to be put on the table, all the evidence to be put there, and the regulations to be done."

Again, in an article published May 31, 2013 to commemorate World No Tobacco Day, new managing director of Carreras Limited, Marcus Steele, stressed that while the company is not averse to tobacco-control regulations in Jamaica, it is strongly opposed to the banning of communication that serves to equip consumers to make informed decisions on smoking.

"Carreras continues to unequivocally state its support for the introduction of sensible tobacco-control regulations," said Steele, who took the helm of the company from Richard Pandohie just over a month ago.

"For a number of years now, the company has been urging Government to enact legislation and is anticipating its swift action in tabling such regulations," Steele added.

The WHO FCTC was signed by the GOJ on October 5, 2005.

That means more than 2,810 days, or 67,440 hours, have passed since. And counting. How much longer, Minister Ferguson, how much longer?

Egerton Chang is a businessman. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and e_rider69@hotmail.com.