Province won't ban texting while walking 

TorontoSun.com
July 15, 2016
Shawn Jeffords

Ontario’s Transportation Minister says the province has no intention of banning texting while crossing a street.

Minister Steven Del Duca said in a statement Friday that Ontario will not move ahead with a Toronto city council request to ban the use of cellphones while walking. Council voted to ask the government for the ban during a broader discussion of the city’s road safety plan at its meeting Thursday night.

Speaker Frances Nunziata, who raised the idea, said she’d like to see people fined as a deterrent.

But Del Duca moved quickly to power down the idea Friday.

“Road safety is our priority, but it is a shared responsibility amongst all road users,” Del Duca said. “Keep your head up when crossing the road and always be aware of your surroundings. We have no plan to make changes to the Highway Traffic Act in response to this request.”

Del Duca said just because the province doesn’t intend to go ahead with idea, doesn’t mean the city couldn’t enact its own bylaw which bans walking and texting.

“Municipalities are mature levels of government with powers to establish bylaws in the best interest of their communities,” Del Duca said. “The City of Toronto has the power to pass a bylaw similar to the one requested (Thursday).”

Councillor Joe Mihevc, who was absent for the vote, was blunt in his assessment of the idea.

“It was our third day of council and we lost it,” he said.

Council has been meeting since Tuesday, holding day-long sessions for most of the week, to get through a packed agenda before it takes a summer break. The texting while walking motion came out of the blue as an amendment to the road safety plan, which itself was adopted unanimously.

“It makes us look silly,” Mihevc said of the request. “It makes us seem like we’ve lost our heads. In our defense, we usually look fairly mature in doing our thing. Sometimes here we’re in the bubble.”

Mihevc said there’s a “snowball’s chance in Hell” that it actually gets passed into law by the City now that the province has tossed it back.

“After the mockery and after people have given their heads a shake and had a good night’s sleep we recognize that’s really a silly idea,” he said.

Stephen Buckley, the city’s general manager of transportation services, says staff are looking into whether the ban lies within Toronto or Ontario’s jurisdiction. If necessary, staff will report back to council, he added.

“We believe there’s perhaps differences of interpretation here,” he said. “I think what (Del Duca is) suggesting is its enforceable through a bylaw which would mean our bylaw officers would have to then enforce it.”