Fewer people caught breaking hands-free law in June
Posted August 5, 2010 5:56 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO, Ont. – Provincial police reported fewer people being caught using cell phones while driving in June than in May.
In June, 496 people were charged for chatting, texting or email behind the wheel, which is 300 less than in May, when a total of 778 motorists met the same fate.
“Maybe the message is getting through now to people,” OPP constable Dave Woodford told 680News, “but we’ll see if it’s a [….] downward trend.”
“We are just noticing [the decrease in numbers], so we’ll observe it for the next – maybe – six months and see if it’s continuously going down.”
However, those figures do not include charges laid by municipal police officers. In fact, officers in Durham said compliance with the hands-free law has been declining throughout the year.
Woodford said the discrepancy may be due to drivers practising the habit of checking their cell phones while stopped at a red light, an act municipal forces would catch rather than highway officers.
Those who receive tickets must pay a fine of $125.
