In B.C., distracted driving-related crashes claim, on average, 78 lives, with 27 in the Lower Mainland alone each year.
And there is no shortage of perpetrators.
Case in point: Burnaby RCMP partnered with Transit Police and it was like catching fish in a barrel.
The two agencies focused on distracted driving and HOV lane enforcement at a busy Burnaby intersection and handed out 51. They also arrested a prohibited driver who was driving distracted.
Here’s how the tickets break down:
- 27 HOV lane infractions
- 9 distracted drivers
- 7 ignoring traffic lights
- 1 U-turn
- 1 no insurance
- 1 defective vehicle
- 1 no driver’s licence
- 4 miscellaneous regulation tickets
Here's hoping that, along with increased enforcement and the heavier $368 fine, technology in new cars will also make it more difficult for drivers to give in to temptation.
But where there’s a will, there’s a way, and drivers who feel their texts are more important than my life or yours are always going to justify to themselves picking up their devices.
Fines and penalty points can only do so much. Until they start seizing people’s phones and cars on the spot, we’ll barely scratch the surface.
- With files from Alan Campbell, Richmond News
