By Ian Holmes

Mounties note progress in fight against distracted driving

Mar 10, 2017 | 4:16 PM

NANAIMO — While there’s still a lot of work to do, there has been some progress on the distracted driving epidemic, according to local police.

Data supplied to NanaimoNewsNOW by Central Island Traffic Services, who patrols between Nanaimo, north of Qualicum Beach and the west coast (Port Alberni, Ucluelet & Tofino) shows 236 distracted driving tickets were written since stiffer penalties came into effect last spring.

Cpl. Mike Elston said their officers issued just 90 of those tickets since October.

“We are noticing that the amount of people who actually speak on their cellphones (while driving) has gone down,” Elston said. “We are noticing that people are pulling over to the side of the roads more and more.”

Elston did note that their members focus less on distracted driving in the winter, and more on weather related enforcement and crashes. He figured for every such ticket they hand out, ten drivers are getting away with distracted driving.

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Elston said he personally issued ten such tickets last Saturday (March 4) alone in Port Alberni.

He said urban centres like Nanaimo and Port Alberni tend to have more distracted drivers, noting that the Oceanside region’s demographic lends to fewer people fiddling with their phone while behind the wheel.

Nanaimo RCMP report 157 distracted driving tickets issued since last June when first-time offenders were nailed with $368 fines, up from $167 previously. Fines keep rising with each subsequent infraction, along with escalating penalty points against an offenders’ driving record.

Those 157 tickets from Nanaimo Mounties represent a 17 per cent drop year-over-year, according to RCMP Cst. Gary O’Brien.

He said there is more awareness of distracted driving these days, which some are responding positively to.

“Others who are committed to using it have a hard time of breaking that addiction,” O’Brien said.

On average, 78 people die every year in B.C. where distracted driving is a factor, according to ICBC.

Data from the crown corporation shows distracted driving is responsible for 27 per cent of fatal crashes in the province.

Ian.holmes@jpgb.ca

On Twitter: @reporterholmes