Crackdown on Distracted Driving this Month
Prince George, B.C. – ICBC, the provincial government and police are joining forces across the province this month to raise awareness about the dangers of distracted driving.
Despite more education and tougher penalties, ICBC says distracted driving still contributes to more than one quarter of all car crash fatalities in B.C. with an average of 78 people killed each year.
Photo courtesy ICBC
Alarmingly, ICBC says a recent Ipsos Reid poll it commissioned, showed that though most drivers believe distracted driving leads to an increase in crashes – nearly 40 per cent still admit to using their devices at least some of the time while driving.
ICBC, police and volunteers are responding by planning more enforcement deployments across the province with over 70 police enforcement events and over 50 Cell Watch formations with volunteers this month.
Every year on average, ICBC says 14 people are killed in distracted driving-related crashes in North Central B.C.
Comments
They don’t do this enough, I don’t think I have ever seen so much texting! It is ridiculous to say the least. People think, “it will never happen to me, I will never get caught and never get into accidents!” You are the geeks that will kill somebody! Hope the police catch and nail them hard. Ask me how I really feel! LOL
There’s insufficient enforcement, and the penalty is punishment deferred. You get handed a piece of paper, that says bad things, like you got 4 points, you got a fine, but you get to go on your way.
Imagine if you raised children that way. After they do something wrong, you hand them a piece of paper that says down the road, they’ll be grounded, or heaven forbid spanked, but at the moment of the infraction, just the piece of paper outlining the future punishment.
Adults are really just large children. If, when caught, your phone was impounded,that would be immediate feedback, and would really hurt, and would certainly prevent you from texting on that phone.
And if to get it back you had to pay a fine, and write an essay on the dangers of distracted driving, even better.
But government prefers the easiest method of punishment, not the most effective.
I think this is a very good idea, I see too many distracted drivers and people speeding sometimes on my walks.
Just wondering if Mike Morris will be out manning the check points looking for some photo ops and media face time?
It is Shirley Bond who is the photo op queen and Lynn Hall is the photo op king.
You don’t often see Morris in the photos..
Guess you didn’t see the “Rural Economic Strategy Rollout” story, before you posted your comment.
Shirley leads by a land slide! I get tired of her saying, “ooooh, look at me yet again!” Why can’t they just diligently do their jobs and meld into the background modestly. Goes for 90% of the politicians really.
until they start making the fines large enough to get people’s attention this will never end.
They need to start at at least $1000 and then add loss of driver’s licene to the mix, then maybe they will pay attention, mind you this is prince george so even that might not wake people up
Also nail the texters walking across parking lots totally oblivious to what their surroundings are. I find it amazing that I can follow them behind in my car, best part is when I honk my horn and watch them jump! Awesome! I don’t really car
What just happened…… Anyways I don’t care if they get mad, put the pee pad away!
Yuh mean they don’t have sitiational awareness? It’s fun to wake people up! Used to have a partner that kept checking his phone while driving, ripped a strip off him, I hear he’s still doing it, Stupid!
This really makes my day!! As said above there is not enough of this. I want to target these people with my bright orange paintball gun as a major hazard for all too see. But I don’t think that’s allowed.
Driving is a privilege not a right and that’s where these people get confused. Suspend their license for a few days or a month. Really the penalty should be as harsh as drinking and driving because the end result is serious injury or death of innocent people and families. Your luck runs out sometime.
I have a plan. You will need to have a lock-up box installed in your vehicle. Phone will have to be in the box before your vehicle will start. Guess who is going to get the contract making these boxes and installing them.
Simple Fix will work!
First Time , no driving for a Week!
2nd Time , no driving for a Month!
3rd Time , 6Month
4 th Time , a Year!
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