Police are warning North Shore motorists to get off their phones in advance of a month-long crackdown on distracted driving.
The Lower Mainland's RCMP detachments announced this week that they will be out in force for all of February handing out tickets to motorists caught violating B.C.'s year-old cellphone regulations in North Vancouver and elsewhere. Drivers caught talking or texting on a handheld device, putting on makeup, reading or doing anything else that takes their minds off the road will face a $167 fine and possibly three points on their licence, according to the force.
"Reducing fatalities and serious injuries continues to be a priority for all RCMP police services in British Columbia," said Cpl. Richard De Jong, a spokesman for the North Vancouver detachment, in a release. "Driving requires all of our attention, all of the time. No intentional distraction is worth the possible negative, catastrophic consequences."
Any motorist who needs to take a call or check email while on the road should pull over to do it, said De Jong.
Karen Bowman, founder of Drop It And Drive, a distracted driving advocacy group, said she was pleased with the announcement, but added that police can't fix it alone.
"I think parents need to be setting the right example for their kids," she said. "I think kids need to be taking home information to their parents about what they're learning. There needs to be more self-regulation."
Mounties estimate the behaviour is a contributing factor in 45 per cent of collisions in all the Lower Mainland communities they patrol. Last year, police issued 32,266 tickets for distracted driving across the region, 1,286 of them in North Vancouver.
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