Discussions

To Brandon drivers who text or use their phones while they drive, you're extremely selfish.  
 
Just letting you know that as someone who is a passenger more often than a driver, if I see you texting and driving, I will absolutely film you on my phone and inform the police. I will take down the information about the car, I will have video evidence of you carelessly putting yourself and others at risk, and will do anything I can to make sure you learn that you do not have the right to risk the lives of other people.  
 
Give your head a shake. There is never any reason, at all, that this is acceptable. Ever.

4 people on the cell phone within 1-city block this afternoon. Fines and demerits are a joke. Government needs to get serious about this epidemic.

Asked on another post..can my passenger use a Super Soaker to get their attention back on the road ??  
This morning on 18th st North...light turned green...still sitting there.. went finaly so I pulled next to him and said a few words...Dick gave me the finger...

Jim.49.000 said "Asked on another post..can my passenger use a Super Soaker to get their attention back on the road ??   This morning on 18th st North...light turned green...still sitting there.. went finaly so I pulled next to him and said a few words...Dick gave me the finger... "

I hope that person is reading this, so that they know that they're garbage. Hot, rotting garbage.

seize their vehicles for a few months!

“You don't need to film it. You can just call the police and report it if you are prepared to go to court and testify”. You can’t be serious with this comment, can you? This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. If you are not a police officer, why would you think it’s your job to report random people that you feel are “distracted drivers”? This would never stand up in a court of law. What’s to stop anyone from reporting someone they don’t like? Let’s leave the policing to the actual police, shall we!

To the person above my comment. You are very wrong with what you said. If you have a vehicle des:cription, license plate, and even a des:cription of the driver you can in fact phone in driving infractions you witness to the police. If the cops are able to successfully locate who you phoned about, you can infact appear as a witness to testify in court against them.

I was a passenger in a vehicle on our way to Winnipeg once and we were passed by 2 street racers who almost ran us off the road. I called it in to the RCMP. Gave the best vehicle des:criptions that I could and just as we were getting into Headingly and were slowed by construction we actually witnessed both cars being pulled over by the cops.  
 
I was asked over the phone when I first called it in if I would be willing to testify in court and I did say that I would appear as a witness if need be but I was never subpoenaed. Maybe they had enough evidence against the drivers that I was never needed.

I wish I would have gotten the license plate of the girl driving south down Douglas at about 4:03PM. I saw her driving on the wrong side of the road and the car driving north had to almost stop before she realized. After she was back in her lane she buried her face down again to look at her phone. So sickening. But unfortunately I had to get home right away for an appointment.  
 
People are so incredibly stupid and selfish to think they won't cause an accident while on their phones.

Yes, as long as you will provide a statement and testify in court, you can report a dangerous driver to police and they will deal with it. But if you choose not to do that then theres nothing the police can do about the complaint. But having said that the police can contact the driver you reported and give them a warning about their driving, even if no statement is provided. I talked to a RCMP officer about this not to long ago and that is what I was told.  
 
But having said that if you see someone driving dangerously, you should reported it right away and not hours or days later. If you report it right away the police can then be on the look out for the vehicle.  
 
Edited by The_Young_Man, 2018-04-15 00:07:41

In court if just report someone and are a witness it'll be yoir word against theirs. innocent until proven guilty so unless you have physical evidence it will.never hold.up in court and you will probably be laughed out of the room

basically unless there are two-or-more witnesses to something, they won't do anything about it. Video-taping is another story though, because there is indisputable evidence.  
 
Frankly, if your passenger wants to record people doing something illegal and submit it to the police, good for them. The ones who obey the law have nothing to worry about.

in active policing. Distracted driving is never going to go away without a visible patrol presence for enforcement. if people know and see the police they are less likely to break the law. Most people anyway. It is the same as seatbelts 40 years ago. If the police choose to run elaborate sting operations that police one intersection with 7 or 8 cruisers like this week at 13th and Park they are not providing a presence to deter in the rest of their jurisdiction. That is nothing more than a cash grab and not going to stop the activity. Yes fines are a deterent to some but not those that think they can get away with it. If you think everyone is going to do the righteous thing and not do it you are crazy. It is up to effective police presence to stop this problem.

Exactly my point. “effective police presence“ is what is required to combat distracted driving, not a busy body police wanna be.

That "police wanna be" can't do the same job as an actual police officer, if enough people are reported to the police, and the wrongdoer is given a talking to by the police, it will have an impact. Most people have a cell phone, and if passengers can provide video/photographic evidence, charges can be laid. Yes, the police may be overwhelmed with reports, but if the situation is as bad as everyone says it is, and I'm not disagreeing, we can make a difference as the wrongdoers just aren't getting the message. A warning may be enough for them to change their behaviour.  
 
It would be interesting to know how many that have received a warning or ticket still text and drive.

What can get you charged for distracted driving in Manitoba? Obviously using your hand held device, but what else?  
Thanks

People are absolutely dumb... how is this not treated the same as a DUI??? You have video proof of local idiots on instagram of making videos while driving and posting them??? Why is this not dealt with??? You have video proof.... I told my wife I’d divorce her if I caught her doing it again.... she’s on strike 2....

To end this naysaying and argument, why doesn't someone actually STOP and TALK to a policeman and find out once & for all what a regular person can do if anything at all. Could a police officer just post here what can be done...what is acceptable to them? It should not be a debate.  
 
Some say reporting can certainly be done and others claim no way. I suspect the ones against it are the ones who use their phones (in whatever way) while behind the wheel and are certainly threatened by the possibility that a regular person can report a crime...and it IS a crime. Regular people can report a crime and certainly one in progress. It is done all the time for less, police respond, sometimes late, and charges are often laid.  
 
This bad practice of using a phone while driving, which is breaking the law, is in fact a proven, very dangerous (including potentially causing death) action to anyone in the car and potentially to others in and along their path. It isn't just about eyes leaving the road. Cell phone use is disorienting & does alter thought processes, more so than even a passenger will do. It has been documented. Good, safe driving needs full attention & no distraction. Cell phone use while driving is not necessary and is easily prevented by the offender him/herself. Why would you want to defend an illegal and dangerous action unless you yourself do this very thing?  
 
Unfortunately self-driven cars (as mentioned by another poster) will not end this. In the video where that car killed the woman...the guy behind the wheel was not paying attention, and was in fact looking down. He was awfully surprised when his car hit someone. If in fact he had been watching, I believe this tragedy could have possibly been avoided. He still had a responsibility that he neglected.  
 
All people will never obey the law. Some will, some won't. Those who break the law and get caught, or haven't been caught...yet, will try to defend their actions because they didnt cause an accident (yet), can drive safely while using their phone (uh huh, not from what I or many others have witnessed), think they are better or more important than everyone else and the laws just don't apply to them.  
 
I would like to see even stiffer penalties and really, if the police are finding and charging people for doing these things...great! They are doing their job, saving lives, and should be commended.  
 
If someone can save a life by reporting a crime in progress, I cannot see how that can be called bad. Think on that one.

I dont think there is any way the police can do this by themselves. But I think that if people are serious, they should join me and commit to filming people breaking the law. If as a community, we start filming people every time they text and drive, they'll stop. Because right now they're only looking out for police. But if they have to be aware of everyone, then they cant get away with it.  
 
If people are actually as upset as I am about this, just do what I'm doing and commit to filming people when you can. Let this serve as a warning to Brandoner's that they dont have the right to risk other people's lives. There just simply aren't enough police to do it. And it's an incredibly easy thing for us to do.  
 
If you see someone texting and driving, pull out your phone and record them.