Over 3,000 B.C. drivers slapped with tickets for distracted driving in March

A BC Highway Patrol officer writes a distracted driving ticket in Richmond, B.C.

Over 3,000 tickets were issued in the month of March during a clampdown on traffic crime by the B.C. Highway Patrol, over a third of which were handed out in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island.

Mounties beefed up enforcement during the March campaign to highlight how prevalent and dangerous distracted driving has become in the province, with the main issues being drivers using their phones while behind the wheel, and seatbelts and car seats not being used properly.

“Across the province in March, B.C. Highway Patrol wrote almost 2,800 tickets for distracted driving,” said Supt. Mike Coyle in a statement released Wednesday afternoon.

“We also wrote 873 tickets for people who were not wearing seatbelts, including 87 tickets to parents whose children were not properly secured.”

Fines for not wearing a seatbelt start at $109, for a child who is properly restrained in their seat, to $167 for adults. Ayone caught using any electronic device while driving will be slapped with a $368 fine.

During the month-long campaign, patrol officers also handed out 1,336 tickets in the Okanagan region, 1,036 for distracted driving and 300 for seatbelt infractions. In the Kootenays, 260 were given – 149 for drivers using mobile phones and 111 for no seatbelts – while 214 were issued in B.C.’s Northern region, including 153 for illegal phone use and 61 for seatbelt infractions.

According to Coyle, many of the distracted driving tickets were written for drivers using the highway system, not just those who were stopped at intersections.

In one instance, a woman attempted to put on her seatbelt after being stopped by police. In another, a driver using her mobile phone was found to also be over the alcohol limit and was issued a driving suspension as a result.

In a release issued prior to the campaign in February, police said distracted driving has become such a problem in B.C. that it’s now “at least as deadly as driving while impaired.”