As part of April being Distracted Driving Month, Brandon Police are currently in the middle of a period of heightened lookout for drivers that may be in contradiction with distracted driving laws that initially went into place almost a decade ago.
Today BPS released stats on tickets issued between April 3 and 11 as part of those efforts. Among 69 tickets so far were 29 for cell phone use:
The Highway Traffic Act disallows the use of hand held electronic devices while operating a motor vehicle, with periodic updates to the law since its 2010 introduction that have increased consequences to those issued a ticket. The offence comes with a fine plus 5 demerits on oneâs drivers license. In November in an update to the law that fine was tripled to $672 and Police were given the ability to remove the license of a driver caught with a cell phone use ticket for three days on the first offence and seven days for any subsequent offence within ten years.