The province's new distracted driving law, which comes into effect on September 1, will be enforced right away in the Sundre RCMP detachment area, says Sgt. Percy Leipnitz.
The new law bans the use of hand-held cellphones, laptop computers, video games, cameras, portable audio players, entering information on GPS units, reading printed materials, writing, sketching, and personal grooming.
Driving while handling food such as coffee is not included in the legislation.
Violators face fines starting at $172.
Despite the financial penalties, the law's main goal is public safety, says Sgt. Leipnitz.
“It can cause a lot of accidents if people aren't paying attention,” said Leipnitz. “When you are not aware of your surroundings, you are not being a defensive driver. Driving is something where you have to be paying attention all the time. “A split second of not looking can cause you to swerve into the other lane and cause head-ons. It only takes a split second to look down and cross the centre line.”
He said Sundre RCMP officers will be enforcing the law starting Sept. 1.
“We will be stopping vehicles and we will be enforcing it right way, absolutely,” he said.
RCMP Sgt. Jeff Jacobson, detachment commander of the neighbouring Didsbury district, echoes Leipnitz's comments.
“Certainly we receive numerous calls related to distracted driving where quite often it is believed that they are an impaired driver because they're swerving on the road,” said Jacobson.
“It turns out that no, they were just talking on their phone or distracted (in) some other fashion. Distracted driving is a dangerous practice.”
- with files from Josh Skapin, Didsbury Review
