Police in Metro Vancouver want one very distracted driver off the road for a long time.
In a tweet, the Vancouver Police Department noted one of its officers has just handed a woman her 14th ticket for using a cellphone while behind the wheel.
“This woman is not getting the message,” Sgt. Randy Fincham said.
“She has been educated 14 separate times and she chooses to ignore everybody else’s safety.”
Richmond RCMP tweeted this month that the driver had nearly collided with one of their officers while driving distracted and been ticketed for the 12th time.
She got a 13th shortly thereafter, and a few days later, a Vancouver police officer who ticketed a woman for texting and driving recognized that it was the same person.
The officer wrote to the superintendent of motor vehicles asking that her driving history be reviewed for possible suspension, Fincham said.
The fine for distracted driving in B.C. is $167 plus three penalty points.
Agencies/Canadajournal
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They need to empower officers to give 24hr or more roadside driving suspensions. Simple fines are not working.
People are not getting the message. It needs to become socially unacceptable, so that if you do it other drivers will honk at you and maybe call police.
Enforcement is pathetic. Officers who are off-duty in their own cars say they see it all the time. My question is why do they not take action? Would they ignore someone driving with a beer in their hand just because they are off duty? That distracted driver represents a grave and immediate danger to themselves and others.
Police in cruisers should keep their eyes on the road more, instead of driving distracted themselves. They might notice the bad behaviour of other drivers that way. They are a terrible role model. Despite their legal exemption why can’t they pull over to operate their laptops?
March is anti-distracted driving month in BC. Newsflash, it’s a failure. The epidemic continues to spread.