New, harsher distracted driving laws will come into affect in the New Year.
Chris Watkins, Staff Sargent and the Interim Detachment Commander for the Bancroft OPP, says that 5,619 distracted driving crashes have been investigated by the OPP Province-wide in 2018. 31 people have died because of those crashes and another 1,051 have been left injured. Watkins added that over the past decade, 738 deaths have been caused by distracted driving on OPP-patrolled roads.
Watkins says that as January 2019, new legislation will be put in place to give harsher penalties to distracted drivers. Simply holding an electronic device like your phone will result in fines up to $1,000, three demerit points and a three day drivers license suspension for a first offence. It goes up to $2,000 and a seven day suspension for a second offence and $3,000 and 30 days for a third and any further convictions. Six demerit points will be given for multiple offences.
The penalties are harsher for novice drivers. Watkins says they will have the same fines, but if they’re charged with distracted driving, they will face a 30 day administrative drivers license suspension, a 90 day suspension for a second offence and their license will be cancelled after a third conviction.
Officers won’t be able to take a driver’s license roadside. They would only be able after a judge orders it to be suspended after the driver is found guilty.
The new distracted driving laws received Royal Assent earlier this year. “I think changes to the legislation will improve our ability to respond to what is a pervasive problem,” Watkins says.