Police will be in full force this week on area roads, for the OPP Distracted Driving Blitz.
The blitz starts Saturday and continues until Friday, March 20th. Western Region OPP Sgt. Dave Rektor says “the program focuses on education and enforcement in the area of distracted driving.”
Rektor says “for the 7th consecutive year distracted driving has been the leading cause for injury and death on highways.” He says so far this year there have been 51 fatal motor vehicle collisions to date, and 12 of those have been directly attributed to distracted driving. Rektor says “those 12 people would otherwise be alive if they hand’t been distracted.”
Rektor says there are many different kinds of distractions when driving, whether you’re talking on a bluetooth or just to someone in the car. Rektor says “section 130 of the Highway Traffic Act, which is careless driving is applicable in any situation where a motorist isn’t paying full attention.”
According to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation the distracted driving charge is $225, however if you endanger others because of any distraction, including both hand-held and hands-free devices, you can also be charged with careless driving, resulting in charges up to $2,000.
Examples of hand-held devices:
- iPods
- GPS and MP3 players
- cell phones
- smart phones
- laptops
- DVD players
