ONE driver stopped by police in a distracted driving blitz in North Vancouver was videoconferencing through a cellphone, while another was chatting on her mobile with one hand while applying lipstick with the other.
Both are among the 186 people handed tickets by North Vancouver RCMP last month for distracted driving.
Despite laws making it illegal to use cellphones while driving - except with hands-free devices - drivers on the North Shore are still texting, tweeting and talking on their mobiles while behind the wheel in alarming numbers, according to local police.
The number of tickets handed out this February in North Vancouver is a 42 per cent increase over last year - when officers handed out 131 tickets during the same time period.
One person was even stopped twice within 10 minutes - first for talking on a cellphone, then for texting.
In fact, the number of people texting seems to be growing, said Cpl. Richard De Jong, spokesperson for the North Vancouver RCMP detachment - perhaps out of mistaken belief it can done more surreptitiously.
De Jong said it's a concerning trend. "That two or three seconds you're looking down could be the seconds someone runs out in front of you," he said.
People have a myriad of excuses, he added. "A lot of them say they're just checking the time (on their cellphone)," he said. Others plead busy schedules or the length of time they have to spend commuting.
"I think it's going to take some time to re-educate people," said De Jong. "There aren't many life or death situations that require us to be on the phone or texting."
In West Vancouver, police handed out 57 tickets to distracted drivers in February on top of 20 written up the month before.
In the Lower Mainland as a whole, the RCMP's Lower Mainland District Traffic Services handed out 4,449 tickets for use of electronic devices while driving in February - nearly double the number from the year before.
Talking or texting on a cellphone while driving has been illegal in B.C. since Feb. 1, 2010.
Drivers are supposed to use hands-free devices or pull over. The fine for using an electronic device while driving is $167. Those caught texting or emailing also receive three penalty points.
Drivers in the graduated licensing program are not allowed to use any electronic device while driving, even if it is hands-free.
De Jong said the people caught talking or texting while driving runs the gamut of the population - "young mothers to business people to teens - it's everyone who carries a cellphone," he said.
