Dozens of tickets issued to drivers taking photos of a crash in Richmond
Posted April 19, 2016 10:12 am.
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RICHMOND (NEWS 1130) – Drivers are being warned not to snap pictures of car accidents as they drive by.
Over 30 tickets were handed out at the scene of a crash involving a flipped semi on Highway 99 in Richmond last night.
The distracted driving fine is $167 along with three demerit points.
RCMP Sergeant Lorne Lecker with Deas Island Traffic Services warns you could also find yourself with a ticket for driving without due care and attention, which would tack on an extra $368 and six points.
“Our concern is secondary crashes. People have a tendency to pay attention to the crash scene as they are driving by and not watch the road. When you add on the distracted driving factor, that makes it even more dangerous. We have a large number of secondary crashes.”
“We are trying to clean the main crash up and at the same time, we have a second and a third crash because people rear-end the car ahead of them because it is stop and go traffic, and they are looking at their phones.”
He adds people think it’s safe to use their phone because traffic is going quite slow but it’s actually more dangerous because the flow of traffic is unpredictable.
