Distracted driving laws go too far
I am in favour of a law preventing distracted driving, but like many laws in Canada this one is taken too far, is confusing, and takes away our freedom of choice and trust that licensed drivers make safe decisions.
Recently in Vancouver, a 71-year-old woman was given a $368 ticket and 4 points off her licence for distracted driving because she was charging her cell phone in her front seat cupholder. It was her first ticket in over 50 years of driving, and she was driving with two hands on the wheel at the time she was pulled over. In another recent case, a man was given a distracted driver ticket because his phone was within reach, lodged between the folds of his passenger seat.
Both tickets were overturned when the drivers secured lawyers and fought the charges.
The court said charging a phone is not using it, and the mere presence of a cell phone was not enough to secure a conviction.
These court cases make me wonder about the officers’ grey matter. What a waste of police time, the drivers’ time, and our court’s time. But if those two drivers had been seen checking their cell phones completely stopped at a red light, while not even moving, they would not have been successful fighting the tickets.
It’s confusing, considering you cannot be charged with distracted driving if using a cell phone in hands-free mode even if you need to touch the device to activate it. . . . contd.
