It should be a minimum of 6 points…
driving with undue care and attention…
3 points and $167 is a joke.
To get people to stop….
FIRST you have to get their attention…
this won’t do it.
You have to make the penalty HURT, this…..ha ha

I support this move for sure. But how far will this distracted issue go. Arguing with the wife sitting in the passenger seat ? While that’s probably a stretch ,from listening to the news last evening it indicates such a direction.

Fatal Car Accidents Involving Alcohol in BC
2009 – 106
2010 – 127
2011 – 75
2012 – 57
2013 – 63

Fatal Car Accidents Involving Distracted Driving in BC
2009 – 99
2010 – 102
2011 – 79
2012 – 80
2013 – 77

Distracted Driving is listed as Communication/Video Equipment (code 34) Driver Inattentive (code 85) and Driver Internal/External Distraction (code 86).

Notice the drop in Alcohol related deaths after the Gov’t came down harder on drunk driving.

It would be nice if the Gov’t took Distracted Driving as seriously as drunk driving, when you consider the numbers above.

I also noticed that Distracted Driving fatalities dropped significantly in 2011. Possibly drunk people were texting or on the phone?

The whole issue of distracted driving has been screwed up the Government.
They are trying to reduce court costs, and increase revenue by issuing fines. They should be charging people using the laws for DANGEROUS DRIVING, AND DRIVING WITHOUT DUE CARE AND ATTENTION. People should be compelled to go to court and plead guilty or not guilty to the charge. This puts the onus on them to be responsible for their actions, and forces the Government to be honest and up front about distracted driving.

The Governments Discussion Paper. Addressing the Problem of Distracted Driving and its Impacts to Road Safety. Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General. Office of the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles. Executive Summary.

Paragraph four (4)

****In both simulated and real driving environments, the use of electronic devices has been shown to result in crashes and near misses. Drivers fail to process approximately 50 percent of the visual information in their driving environment when they are using electronic communication devices. Evidence also concludes that there is NO DIFFERENCE between the cognitive diversion associated with hands-free and hand-held cell phone use***

So one has to wonder why the Government allows hands free devices in cars, but makes hand held devices illegal.

Paragraph seven (7)

****At the other end of the spectrum there is no evidence that listening to the radio or a book on tape degrades driving performance. This finding underscores that not all distractions are alike and that there is clearly a continuum of distractions****

I suggest you read the report, as there is some very good information in it on distracted driving.

I would suggest treating distracted driving similar to drinking and driving with a bit of twist.
First offence, $500 fine, immediate 24 hour roadside licence suspension
Second Offence, $1000 fine, 7 day licence suspension, and vehicle impounded for 7 days
Third offence, $2000 fine, 30 day licence suspension, and vehicle impounded for 30 days.
fourth offence, $10,000 fine, 1 year licence suspension and vehicle impounded for 90 days.
If drivers are still not getting the message, then it will probably take a lifetime prohibition after the 4th offence.

Nytehawk, I agree. But add 30 days jail for the third.
This practice some fools have is killing people.

Adding 3 points with the $167 fine is not enough to make ppl stop. They will still take a chance on texting or talking on their cell. I see several ppl each day still doing this. Is 3 points really going to make them stop, doubtful. They should make the penalties be an amount that scares ppl out of taking the chance. They are trying to determine what the appropriate amount should be, they may come up with a better fine if they picture their loved one dead from a distracted driver. As far as I’m concerned, it’s just as bad a driving under the influence.

A few decades ago I had to take a course on human behavior, and they talked a lot about motivation. Positive motivation works best, but it’s not always practical, so, negative motivation is the tool. The interesting thing about it, is it’s ability to modify behavior is a combination of severity of penalty, and probability of being caught. If distracted driving resulted in a road side execution, but chances of getting caught were one a million, it still might get more compliance than the current system because of the severity of the penalty. If the penalty were $1.00, but you were likely to get caught once a week, you may not care at all. So, there has to be a balance, and they haven’t found it in my opinion. RCMP seem disinterested in traffic duty at the best of times. This penalty isn’t high enough to offset the lack of enforcement probability. If they really want this to stop, they’d have to re task enough units to do nothing but enforcement, that getting caught happened so often, people would put their phones away. Or, make the penalty like drinking and driving.

And since it does not appear enough members are tasked with traffic duties in this province, perhaps it is time to train sheriffs to branch out to traffic duties as is the case in Alberta, and be damned what the OC RCMP has to say about it.
When new laws are enacted such as MVA impaired and distracted driving, and RCMP don’t ramp up traffic section for more enforcement, then it’s time to consider alternatives.
Yes, budgets come in to play and where to put more members to enforce laws, but it appears on the face of it that Alberta is doing quite well.

So it seems that people still think that paying a larger fine, or getting more points will solve the problem. Hmmmm.

Seems to me a day in court and then the fines, points, etc would go a long way to solving the problem. Not many people actually want to sit in a courtroom with or without a lawyer and face the music.

Apparently using the court system, (which is the backbone of any free society) is beyond the understanding of many people.

Also the concept of avoiding the courts to save money, and write tickets to generate money seems to have not caught the attention of many people.

The system is broke, the Government broke it, and the Government needs to fix it. Paying fines is just a small part of the problem.

I agree with Palopu that we already have distracted driving laws on the books under a different name.

The government’s laws on distracted driving is mostly a knee-jerk reaction to the knee-jerk public outcry that ‘something must be done!’. Enforcing the existing laws would be seen as a weak reaction.

In the short term, financial penalties and points won’t do much to change things. The culture needs to change, similar to what’s been seen with drinking and driving over the past 40+ years. Over time, it will become less tolerated. In today’s ‘me-me-me’ world, it will take time to get the message through.

When folks wax and wane about the court system, they should know what they’re talking about. A lot of people contest tickets and usually end up with a reduced fine, or the member isn’t there to dispute, that part has changed where the constable prosecutor can deal with most tickets.
Going to hearing delays the inevitable and there are some really humorous explanations as to why the offender should be found not guilty. Microwave dishes on mountains distorting radar guns comes to mind.
Yes, heavier fines, points and the chances of jail DO WORK, as statistics have shown in Court services analysis throughout the last 30 years.

Yes, Johnny, the biggest thing to overcome is the entitlement people feel and the inconvenience to them,the hell with everyone else. “I’m on an important call here, wait til I finish and then I’ll give you my licence and Reg.” Yes, it happens.

I still say the distraction should be taken away as well. Have you seen how people go ballistic when they’ve forgotten or lost their cellphone?

Have the cell phone confiscated when they are pulled over to receive the fine and points, then they will think twice about it the next time.
If they try to hide it, well spending some time in the back of the patrol car, while the policeman searches their car for it will make them think twice about doing that too.

I hope all of you complaining get some sort of traffic ticket in the near future.

Have not received a traffic ticket yet, that I did not deserve.

**Only the man who has enough good in him to feel the justice of the penalty can be punished** William Ernest Hocking.

We should not be talking about **Traffic Tickets** here. We need to charge people with Dangerous Driving, or Driving without due care and Attention. Once charged they have to appear in court to defend themselves, or plead guilty. Roadside police justice is not working.

Why make it convenient for those who break the law, to pay a fine??

In days gone by some people who were sentenced to two weeks in jail for their second impaired driving charge, had to convince their employer to allow them to take their holidays, so they could go to jail for two weeks. Plus they had to try and keep their jobs. Now you just pay a fine and your on your way.

“had to convince their employer to allow them to take their holidays, so they could go to jail for two weeks”
Are you serious? They did weekends or 3 days during the week, the system in 90% of the cases worked for the offender to keep their jobs and if the jail was full they got a TA, and did squat. And that is still happening.