Distracted driving penalties to increase Jan. 1

Albertans convicted of distracted driving in 2016 will face a penalty of three demerits as well as the current $287 fine.

Provincial officials announced earlier this month the penalty will increase Jan. 1 because statistics show distracted driving contributes to 20 to 30 per cent of collisions in Alberta.

Didsbury RCMP Cpl. Clint Gulash said he is in favour of increasing the penalty, but doesn't think it's enough to stop distracted driving.

“You have to have a penalty that sends a message that the behaviour is not acceptable,” Gulash said.

“Where you really send a message is if we start seizing those items, like taking your phone, that's where I think it needs to go.”

He said demerits will make people think twice about distracted driving because it's more of an inconvenience to them, but many people just pay their tickets and continue to drive distracted.

“But if you're on your phone improperly and almost cause an accident and I pull you over and I seize your phone and give you a ticket, now you've lost your phone and you've lost your contacts,” he said.

“Now that sends a different message.”

Distracted driving includes using phones or any electronic devices, reading, applying makeup, cutting nails, shaving or any personal grooming, as well as eating things that are distracting and require two hands, such as cereal, he said.

Regardless of what the penalty is, he believes distracted driving is a modern societal issue.

“People have a hard time being able to hear that phone go off and ignore it until they get somewhere or pull over,” he said.

There are many things that can happen quickly that drivers need to watch out for, like kids running after a ball on the street or wildlife crossing the roads at night, he added.

“It's very important to not be distracted because there is so much going on depending on the time of day you're driving,” he said.

“If you're not paying attention, you don't see that deer on the road or that moose on the road, and then you hit them and the potential there is for loss of life as well.

“You as the driver could be injured or killed or you could strike another vehicle and cause injury or death, so it's actually quite serious, the impact of drinking and driving. The risks are quite high, there's so many things that can occur that you can be liable for.”

He said many distracted driving collisions are rear-end collisions because people don't see the traffic in front of them is slowing down or has come to a stop.

It's also important not to drive distracted during this time of year with the winter road conditions, he added.

According to provincial officials, since the distracted driving legislation was introduced on Sept. 1, 2011, there have been 87,633 convictions – as of March 31 this year.

More than 27,000 of those convictions were between April 2014 and March 31 this year and 97 per cent of those were for using a handheld electronic device while driving.

In 2014 and 2015 male drivers accounted for two thirds of all distracted driving convictions and men aged 22 to 34 had the highest conviction rates.

“A vast majority of our accidents are caused by inattention,” said Gulash. “It can be severe. It can have life altering effects. We see it all the time. We just need people to take that extra few minutes to pull over and answer their calls or view their texts and then continue on. It's the safer way to do it.”