Dozens people didn’t resist the urge to pick up their phone while behind the wheel in North Vancouver, Wednesday (July 27) and lived to regret it.
North Vancouver RCMP officers issued more than $18,000 in distracted driving tickets to 50 drivers in one day.
“That is a really high number,” said Cpl. Melissa Jongema, North Vancouver RCMP spokesperson.
As a former traffic officer, Jongema said distracted driving enforcement is “near and dear” to her heart.
While police won’t offer details on exactly where and what tactics they were using (in order to stay a step ahead), Jongema said people shouldn’t expect they’re going to get busted by a uniformed officer parked in a marked cruiser.
The most common excuse from distracted drivers is that they are using their device’s GPS or that they didn’t know the phone couldn’t be in their cup holder, on the passenger seat or in their lap.
“Brackets are $10 and it’s a very cheap way to avoid getting yourself cell phone tickets,” she said.
Even plugging in device with a dead battery is enough to get a conviction in court, Jongema warned.
But the thought of a $368-ticket and a hike in your insurance rates shouldn’t be what keeps your phone stashed where it belongs, Jongema added.
“I’ve been to a lot of serious injuries and fatal collisions and I want to try to prevent those in North Vancouver,” she said.
