Ontario hiking fine for drivers using electronic devices as problem grows

It's going to get much more expensive to get caught using, or even seeing, your phone or other device while driving in Ontario.

Faced with a continued rise in distracted driving, the province is hiking fines from the current $155 ($125 plus victim surcharge and court costs) to $280 ($225 plus surcharge and costs).

You'll get nailed simply for having the screen of your phone or other device such as a tablet visible to you while driving.

"We've seen a lack of compliance," Toronto traffic officer Const. Clint Stibbe told CBC News.

Stibbe said he's seen drivers not just with phones to their ears but also texting with two hands while holding the steering wheel with their knees.

"We're seeing fatalities that are directly attributed to the use of a cellphone," he said. "It's an ongoing problem and it is taking lives."

The penalties, which take effect March 18, do not apply to drivers using GPS navigation systems, which are increasingly common in vehicles.

The Ontario Provincial Police estimate distracted driving is a factor in 30 to 50 per cent of collisions in the province, and could even be higher due to under-reporting.

[ Related: Distracted driving is the leading cause of road deaths ]

The Toronto Star noted the Insurance Bureau of Canada found that drivers talking on their phones or texting now are causing more deaths on Ontario roads than drunk drivers.

The bureau's Ontario director of government relations, Doug DeRabbie, told reporters last November that impaired driving caused 30 deaths up to that point, compared with 50 due to driver distraction, Wheels.ca reported.

“We have looked at impaired driving versus distracted driving and actually there have been more fatalities recently with respect to distracted drivers as opposed to impaired driving,” DeRabbie said.

The ticket currently carries no demerit points but that could change, Ontario Transportation Minister Glen Murray said, according to the Star.

“Distracted driving is one of the fastest-growing causes of death,” he said. "We are looking at legislative and regulatory options."

Murray said last fall the government was looking at a combination of intensive education, similar to impaired-driving awareness campaigns and demerits to try to curb the epidemic of distracted driving.

“What we learned with drunk driving is that without an education campaign it doesn’t work as well . . . you’ve got to have the authority of law . . . regulations and you’ve got to have a very robust education program,” Murray told the Star.

The increase in fines, the first since drivers were banned from using mobile phones in 2009, matches the penalty in Saskatchewan, which according to the Canadian Automobile Association has the highest fine in Canada for distracted driving. A ticket in the prairie province also carries four demerit points.

[ Related: Alberta’s distracted driving anti-text ads feature a glowing crotch ]

Fines in other provinces and territories range from $100 and three points in the Northwest Territories to $167 and three points in B.C. and $172 and no points in Alberta.

Newfoundland and Labrador, however, has fines ranging from a minimum $100 to $400, presumably depending on the scale of the offence. Nova Scotia issues a $164 ticket for a first offence, raises the fine to $222 for the second one and $337 for subsequent offences, if you still didn't get the message.

Alberta, which has some of the highest rates of distracted driving in Canada, launched a crackdown on the problem this month, coupling education with heightened enforcement.

Transportation Minister Ric McIver said last fall Alberta's two-year-old legislation on in-car phone use needs improvement and the province is considering hiking penalties, CBC News reported.