Police hope distracted driving numbers drop this year

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The messaging is the same and you’ve heard it before – leave your phone alone. A week into the New Year, we’re checking in with police who hope they won’t have to say it as much in 2018 as they try to crackdown on distracted drivers.

It’s now one of the leading causes of deaths and despite campaigns and blitzes carried out by police and ICBC, the numbers have never gone down.

Vancouver Police Sergeant Jason Robillard says it’s an easy ticket to write because they constantly catch people staring at their phone.

“Even when I’m out of uniform I see people and I’m sure everybody else does, on their phones when they’re driving whether it’s at a stop sign or at a red light. It’s definitely becoming a pretty big problem on the roads.”

During an educational campaign in September, the force handed out nearly 2,000 tickets.

“I believe we could have written more,” points out Robillard. “It just solidified the fact that this is a problem and it goes beyond policing and police officers as to how we can reach out with tickets and get people to stop their behaviour. We have to reach out to people and ask them to remind their loved ones at home to put the phone down when you’re driving.”

He blames the steady increase in tickets on an obsession people have with their smartphones. “It’s a behavioural issue and just that urge to do it. They like their phones and they just can’t seem to put it down, they have that addiction to their phone and we need to work together to get them to put it down when driving or simply pull over.”

There are a few things you can do to if you can’t stop staring at your phone. You can turn it off, put it on airplane mode, in the backseat or in the trunk. “It’s easy to say, but practice is a different thing and a lot of people can’t live without their phones and they can’t drive without them too. It’s a dangerous habit to get into and it needs to stop. It goes for everybody. If you know one of your loved ones or a friend or family member is driving, then maybe hold off on that text but remind them too when you’re with them in the car or you know they’re doing it — to put down the phone.”

Fines for distracted driving are going up this year. Having deemed it a high-risk behaviour, the province has announced as of March 1st, you’ll have to pay as much as $2,000 if you get pulled over for using a hand-held device more than once in three years. That’s $740 more than the current penalty, and on top of what you’re already paying for insurance.

The distracted driving legislation in BC doesn’t just apply to a hand-held device. You’re not supposed to do anything behind the wheel that will take away your attention from the task at hand and that can include drinking a coffee, doing make-up or having a dog on your lap.

You are allowed to use your phone if you need to call 911 for an emergency.

A recent survey by the Canadian Automobile Association found about 8 in 10 people think texting and driving is getting worse despite the efforts of police and that’s it a bigger problem now than it was three years ago.

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