Canada’s most populous province is considering stiffer penalties for using handheld devices behind the wheel. Under the provincial Highway Traffic Act, this is known as driving while distracted. It can include such things as taking your eyes off the road to play with the radio, picking things up off the floor while driving, reading, and so on.
Police say, distracted driving is the cause of more accidents now that drunk driving.
Currently being caught using a cellphone while driving will result in a $155 ticket.
Ontario’s Transportation Minister said the ruling provincial Liberal Party government is considering raising that and adding demerit points to driver’s licences.
The Minister said in the last three years, there have been 235,000 charges laid, adding that many were repeat offenders.
He also indicated the government was looking at penalties for “dooring” when drivers open doors and cyclists crash into them.
In a related note, last month in a case involving a woman convicted of distracted driving who claimed she wasn’t using the phone but merely holding it after picking it up from the floor., a 3-judge Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that even holding the phone for a short period of time constituted a violation under the “Highway Traffic Act”
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