(FORT FRANCES, ON.) – With the last of the summer long weekends only days away, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) are giving advance notice that they will be honing in on distracted drivers as part of the heightened enforcement.
In addition, with kids heading back to school tomorrow within the Rainy River District, distracted driving is of particular concern to the OPP as distraction-related collision fatalities in OPP jurisdiction continue to surpass impaired driving-related deaths this year. According to the OPP, everyone travelling on roads and highways should be equally concerned about this alarming trend.
Officers are reminding drivers to put down their cellular devices and concentrate on the primary task at hand…DRIVING! As of tomorrow, motorists should take extra care and be aware of school buses returning to their routes and note students are biking and walking to school. Zero tolerance is the expected response when officers observe drivers who fail to stop for school buses when red lights are flashing and those who continue to talk and/or text on their cellular devices.
Stopping for a school bus – You must stop whenever you approach a stopped school bus with its upper alternating red lights flashing, regardless of whether you are behind the bus or approaching it from the front. It is illegal to fail to stop for a stopped school bus that has its red lights flashing. If you don’t stop, you can be fined $400 to $2,000 and get six demerit points for a first offence. If you are convicted a second time within five years, the penalty is a fine of $1,000 to $4,000 and six demerit points. You could also go to jail for up to six months.
Hand held communication devices – Ontario’s law makes it illegal for drivers to talk, text, type, dial or email using hand-held cell phones and other hand-held communications and entertainment devices. Drivers caught using a hand-held device will face a set fine of $125 plus a victim surcharge and court fees for a total of $155. Drivers who challenge the ticket in court face fines of up to $500.