Just how distracted do drivers need to get before being taken off the road and who’s responsible for taking away their right to get behind the wheel?
That's some of the questions being posed after the Richmond RCMP discovered one motorist was still driving after racking up, since 2011, 12 distracted driving offences involving the use of an electronic device.
On the 13th occasion, the woman, in her 40s, was so self-involved with her device, she almost ran right into an RCMP cruiser in Richmond. Mounties were stunned enough that they tweeted the woman’s woeful driving record.
And on Wednesday, she hit the 14 mark, this time being caught in the act by the Vancouver Police Department (VPD).
The VPD is applying with the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles to have them review the woman’s driving history and determine if, at this point, it might be more appropriate to have her licence suspended.
“Unfortunately, we are still seeing some people out there who are still not getting the message that distracted driving is taking lives,” VPD spokesperson Randy Fincham told Global News.
Fincham said they also believe the woman was texting during most of the infractions. He added it’s the highest number of tickets that he has ever heard of getting issued to one individual.
In a bid to ascertain exactly how distracted a drivers need to get to have their keys taken off them, the Richmond News was directed by police to the provincial government’s RoadSafetyBC department, which oversees driver prohibitions.
Asked why the driver in question was still able to drive, a RoadSafetyBC spokesperson pointed to the fact that penalty points — which, when totalled up, could lead to a ban — were only introduced for distracted driving offences in 2014.
Therefore, the Richmond driver, who has been committing the offence since at least 2011, may not have yet reached the threshold for being considered for a prohibition.
An “experienced driver,” according to RoadSafetyBC, will be referred to the Driver Improvement Program (DIP) for a prohibition after accumulating 15-19 penalty points.
The problem is, after repeated questions, it’s not clear from RoadSafetyBC who is ultimately responsible for red-flagging the offending driver to the authority.
The Motor Vehicle Act states that a driver found using a hand-held electronic device while driving “may receive a $167 traffic violation ticket that also carries three penalty points. Offences and infractions that include penalty points can lead to a driving prohibition.”
RoadSafetyBC told the News that some of its DIP responsibilities are delegated to ICBC.
“When a driver’s record reaches a certain threshold of unsafe behaviour, ICBC or RoadSafetyBC will review the record and apply a DIP intervention against the driver if warranted,” said a department spokesperson via email. Possible “interventions,” include a warning letter, probation notice and finally a driving prohibition.
“We were unprepared to find the staggeringly high number of contraventions from one driver for the same offence and in multiple jurisdictions,” said Richmond RCMP’s Cpl. Dennis Hwang. “Other officers informally polled at (the) Richmond detachment could not recall ever encountering such a high number.”
When police encounter an “unusual situation that questions a driver’s suitability and how it pertains to the safety of others,” they prepare a report to RoadSafetyBC.
“We are currently engaged in this process,” Hwang added, in the case of the 14-time distracted driver.
ICBC says one in four deaths on B.C. roads involve distracted driving, which is now the second leading cause of car crash deaths in B.C., with 88 people killed each year on average. In B.C., using your phone while driving carries a $167 fine — the second lowest figure in Canada.
Ontario recently passed legislation to change the maximum fine to $1,000. And in Nova Scotia, fines were increased from $176 to $234 for a first offence, and from $350 to $579 for any subsequent offences this February.
