TEMISKAMING SHORES (Special) – Police will be focused on distracted driving this weekend.
As they patrol highways throughout the Labour Day weekend, the Ontario Provincial Police say they’ll be paying particular attention to drivers’ use of cell phones while at the wheel.
In a news release, police say there will a zero tolerance approach to infractions of the Highway Traffic Act dealing with distracted driving.
Enforcement will include, but not be limited to:
• Section 78(1) Highway Traffic Act (HTA) – Drive – Display screen visible to driver;
• Section 78.1(1) HTA – Drive – Hand-held communication device;
• Section 78.1(2) HTA – Drive – Hand-held entertainment device.
The set fine for the offences is $500 with the total payable being $615.00 when you are issued a provincial offences notice on the roadside.
If the matter goes to court and you are convicted, drivers can be fined up to $1,000 with a three-day licence suspension and receive three demerit points.
Drivers who are convicted of a second offence within five years face a fine of up to $2,000, a seven-day licence suspension and six demerit points.
Drivers who are convicted for a third tine and on all subsequent offences within five years face a fine of up to $3,000, a 30-day licence suspension and six demerit points.
Drivers who hold a G1, G2, M1 or M2 licence and are convicted of these offences will face the same fines as drivers with A to G licences, but instead of demerit points, will face longer suspensions – a 30-day licence suspension for a first conviction, a 90-day licence suspension for a second, and a cancellation of their licence and removal from the graduated licensing system (GLS) for a third.
To get their licence back, drivers would have to redo the GLS program.
Members of the Temiskaming OPP laid eight distracted driving charges in 2018.
They investigated 425 motor vehicle collisions in 2018, five of which were fatal and 69 of which involved personal injuries. It was deemed that 126 of those collisions were due to inattentive drivers.