Number of distracted driving charges in York Region down

YorkRegion.com
July 30, 2014
By Jeremy Grimaldi

At a time when police forces around the GTA are boosting ticketing for distracted driving - some by more than 1,300 per cent - York Regional Police has issued fewer tickets for what it has labelled the “new drunk driving”.

Data obtained by York Region Media Group shows the number of tickets issued for the charge of driving while using a handheld device fell from 5,330 in 2011 to 2,985 in 2013. That information comes as the force teams up with Toronto police and CAA this week to launch a six-week distracted driving campaign.

Elsewhere in the GTA, police forces have dramatically stepped up efforts as studies show the extent of the practice and just how dangerous it can be.

Peel officers, for example, laid the charge 1,316 per cent more in 2013 than it did in 2011 - 5,780, up from 408.

Meanwhile, Durham police has more than doubled its enforcement during the same time period, from 1,033 in 2011 to 2,893 in 2013.

Earlier this year, Norm Deneault, a Halton officer who was hit by a distracted driver, made headlines after issuing his 3,000th distracted driving ticket in the region.

Staff Sgt. Dave Mitchell, from York Regional Police’s traffic unit, said part of the decrease in tickets can be attributed to the way the courts were interpreting distracted driving laws.

He referred to a series of court decisions in 2012 that meant officers needed to prove that phones were on and functioning to find drivers guilty of distracted driving.

Only a year later, that decision was overturned when a higher court said simply holding a phone was enough for a ticket.

“The mindset of frontline officers was a wait-and-see approach, like they were in legal limbo,” he said.

Although he was unable to explain why other forces managed to ramp up their enforcement during this spell, Mitchell said residents can expect enforcement to rise steadily now.

“I can pretty much guarantee that in 2013/2014 you’ll see a marked increase in terms of enforcement; it’s already happening,” he said, citing 2014 numbers that have already reached 2,815.

Mitchell dismissed any suggestion that the talking or texting while driving is actually falling, noting, during the launch of the blitz, he witnessed officers ticket 41 people on Steeles Avenue, near Hwy. 404, in a matter of hours.

“I was in awe of what I was seeing,” he said. “We had been on the radio and television all day telling people we were doing the blitz, too.”

Maybe it shouldn’t have come as such a surprise, though.

A recent study, surveying 100,000 teenagers at the beginning of July, shows that more than one third of all grade 10 and 11 licenced drivers have engaged in texting while driving.

The number rises to 46 per cent of licenced drivers in grade 12.

York University’s psychology professor David Wisenthal, who studies and teaches issues surrounding road user behaviour and traffic safety, said it appears the police in York have altered their focus on distracted driving.

“I’m surprised they’re not going after it more vigorously,” he said. “Driving is very complex and you have to be alert. If you are distracted or paying attention to something else... it should be a high priority.

“I am certainly not seeing it decrease,” he added. “As a matter of fact, I’ve never seen a woman in a Cadillac SUV not on the phone. I think they (police) should be focusing on it and I wouldn’t close my eyes to it.”

He added that he would like to see police begin to keep data on how many crashes are linked to suspected cellphone use.

The York police department maintains that texting while driving is similar to driving with a .125 blood alcohol level, which is above the legal limit.

Distracted driving charges were increased to $280 in March and there is a push to hike the penalty to $1,000 and three demerits.

According to the Ministry of the Attorney General, 15,439 charges have been laid by York police since 2010 and there have been more than 11,000 convictions.