SGI wanted people to “keep their heads out of their apps” in March, but a few hundred didn’t listen.
SGI says 592 tickets were handed out by police across the province for holding or using their cellphones while behind the wheel while another 93 were issued for those driving without due care or attention.
Jennifer Sully with SGI says distracted driving is still a major concern and that the numbers show there is still a lot of work to do even though a lot of work has been done.
“We will continue to talk about it, we will continue to run awareness campaigns, we will continue to do a lot to get this message through.” Sully said. “If you get a distracted driving ticket, you are looking at a $580 fine and four demerit points for a first offence, but the financial cost is nothing compared to injuring or killing someone because of distracted driving. Your phone should never be in your hand when behind the wheel
Besides catching 685 distracted drivers, police issued 358 impaired driving offences, 576 tickets for improper seatbelt or child restraint use and 6,846 tickets for speeding/aggressive driving.
Sully says those speeding tickets are a reminder that police take that issue seriously and you should not be ignoring speed limits just because spring is here and roads are a lot better than they are in the winter.