Yesterday, I saw a woman driving a blue Mini convertible, talking on her cellphone while holding one of her Yorkies on her lap and the second one on the front passenger seat!

We have to share the road with these people, so let’s be careful out there!

so now I wonder how long it will sit in the “we will get to eventually ” pile before they get eventually get to it.

Hart Guy. Buy a big truck, you will win most of the time. Imagine a one ton against a mini convertible!

I don’t think a larger vehicle will help much since I have seen numerous truck drivers talking on their cells while driving. Personally I think suspension of DL’s and larger fines may help in reducing distracted driving. Hurt the offender where it inconveniences them the most.

Last Friday was sitting at 5 corners in front of Mr. PG waiting to turn left. A loaded logging truck ran a red light turning left from highway 97 onto highway 16 right in front of me. As he’s going around the corner I look at him and he’s on the phone, deep in conversation and attempting to turn his steering wheel 1 handed. Imagine if those heading straight on highway 97 southbound had actually started to go when the light turned green for them.

Take away the phone and impound the vehicle. If these incidents are causing more fatalities than impaired driving, shouldn’t the penalty be equal to, or greater than, those for impaired driving?

I was too distracted to put in a submission

With all the technology I can’t understand why a block is not being installed on all phones no matter the type that would not work in a vehicle that is running. It could be set up in such as way that the engine has to be shut down in order for the phone to work. That would get rid of the problem.

I little enforcement would go a long way.
it is not the penalty that matters if it is not enforced.

Don’t need any new laws or fine structure at all. Enforce what we have. A continuing example is that EVERY TIME I go downtown or anywhere in the PG area I see people talking on their cell phones as well as texting.
The RCMP, who patrol constantly, also see this activity. Obviously it is not a priority or this activity would not be worthy of discussion on a venue like this. We have pretty much ceased the discussion on impaired (by drink) driving as public education works, as well as losing driving licence for a year and the monetary sanctions applied.
Bottom line is the RCMP must make it a priority, until this happens nothing will happen.

Yes, unfortunately, we DO need new laws and increased penalties. Why? Because people will not police themselves. Distracted driving is right behind impaired for killing people, so, yes, very high fines and other penalties because drivers are not getting the message.
Today it was a School district vehicle, came in to my lane twice, when I was up beside the vehicle, he’s got his cell phone in his right hand, approaching the light and looking down at it.
There are those that believe their phone call or text is more important than the care and consideration of their fellow drivers on the road.
Nothing has deterred them yet. There is no excuse for stupidity.

The current $167 fine is more than adequate, and is in line with fines for other motor vehicle violations. What needs to happen is better enforcement of this law by the RCMP. The government also needs to stop being cheap and spend some money on distracted driving education and awareness programs, that include media ads.

A combination increased law enforcement, and an education / awareness campaign should reduce distracted driving accident rates. IMO simply raising the fine will do little, if anything, to reduce those accident rates.

A fine is not an adequate deterrent, as can be seen every day on the road. If impaired driving is a criminal offence, then why shouldn’t distracted driving be treated the same?

Sage, IT HAS NOT WORKED. Get it? Yet?

The Government is at fault in regards to impaired driving and distracted driving. They changed the impaired driving laws so that if you are over .08 they can either charge you or fine you. Since then they have been using the fine system. Then they brought in driving with a BAC between .05 and .08. Again they use the fine system.

With distracted driving, they can fine you, if they catch you using a hand held device, and again they don’t have to charge you with driving without due care and attention, or dangerous driving, etc;

The **fine** system keeps the person committing the offence and the arresting officer out of the court system, which is a huge savings for the Government, buts does little to curtail the offences.

People should be charged with the appropriate offence and have the opportunity to face a judge and plead guilty or not guilty to the charge, and then pay the appropriate penalty if found guilty.

Circumventing the justice system to save money, and collect money from fines is not a solution, in fact it is a cop out.

Grizz make up your mind, first in the Free For All Section you say you don’t read my comments and a couple hours later, here you are responding to one of my comments… this makes you a Harpercrite?

If they were serious about “preventing” or “reducing” driving while distracted accidents they would be targeting all grade 11 and 12 students in the province, because it is at that age most of them are getting their drivers licenses.

Just like the DARE program focuses on drug and substance abuse towards elementary school age students, WHERE is the program that focuses on distracted driving towards 16 and 17 year olds?

They haven’t even tried it, because they are too CHEAP to spend money on an effective prevention program!!!

It won’t be long and I’ll have my Dash Cam FB page up and running. Just building up my incident files. I expect many here will enjoy seeing their antics on the internet. Commercial drivers, 4 wheelers, RV’s and motorcycles all included. I see the morons on a daily basis. My life has been threatened daily by their antics. Stay tuned!

Posted on Friday, July 24, 2015 @ 11:47 AM by Fate
Last Friday was sitting at 5 corners in front of Mr. PG waiting to turn left. A loaded logging truck ran a red light turning left from highway 97 onto highway 16 right in front of me. As he’s going around the corner I look at him and he’s on the phone, deep in conversation and attempting to turn his steering wheel 1 handed. Imagine if those heading straight on highway 97 southbound had actually started to go when the light turned green for them.
*******************

That light doesn’t turn green until long after the left turn light has turned red, due to the long left turn involved at that corner.

I don’t know what’s worse these days. People talking on phones, or people with pets sitting on their laps when the drive. Both should be beaten into submission.

If you stick with the laws on the books, then people can be processed through the court system

If you fine them for talking on a phone or texting, then you are actually fining them for an accident that they may have. That way you can collect the money, save money on court costs, and to some degree show that you are trying to reduce accidents.

Fact of the matter is, once there is an accident, it is a whole new ball game. You then have to determine the cause, ie dangerous driving, driving without due care and attention, distracted driving, etc;

So lets not automatically assume that because you are talking on a phone you are responsible for the accident.

Bring back the phone booth, eliminate cell phones.

The connotation of “Distracted Driving” is too open and vague which will lead to false accusations as to what is determined as “Distracted Driving”. If we are going to go after cell phone use or texting while operating a vehicle, then put in the law with the appropriate penalty (say price of a cell phone) that focuses on that issue. A new law for a new problem.