99three

I agree that distracted drivers dialing, emailing, texting or having animated conversations should be ticketed. Yesterday a cop knocked on my window while I was stopped on the corner of King/Bay driving home. He suggested I was holding a communication device. The ticket: $500!!! Another example of the cops using loopholes to grab money from well intended, hard working individuals.
The fact is that I removed my mobile phone from my breast pocket and was placing it down. It was uncomfortable to drive lodged between my seat belt and breast pocket. My wife was with me and she almost lost it on the cop. Obviously I will dispute this on principle alone.

Has anyone experienced this???

theiceman

yup it happened to Christien too,. I am not sure if he fought it. Worse part is its 3 points also and your insurance will take notice.

Sorry to say I am in favour of this law. It is impossible for the police to determine if you are texting , reading email, taking pictures of your junk etc, so to keep it simple they just give you a ticket if you have it in your hand. ( the phone not your junk )

having almost been wiped out be a few people texting while driving I think we need way more enforcement of this law and much like DUI it will be the social influence of us holding each other responsible for doing this not the tickets.

Serf Getting this ticket while stopped certainly does suck . But I have seen people looking down at the phone while stopped , see traffic moving out of the peripheral and hit the gas as they look up to find pedestrians in front.

99three

I'm opposed to folks using their device while driving also. The same logic can be said about new stereo head units that have large screens to watch a DVD or entering an address on your global GPS. But this cop (on a bike no less) decided I was distracted, all the while putting my phone away or handing it over to my wife. I find it BS that this law is a 10 miles wide and an inch deep!

BIG smoke

Toronto pedestrians need to be ticketed too. Watched and 20 something girl, texting, with headphones blaring, cross against a red light yesterday. Did not look up, corner to corner, did not break her stride. Mount Pleasant and eglington.

Serf - sorry you got a ticket, doesn't matter if it is you cell phone, iTouch, gps. distracted driving is distracted driving in the eyes of the law. Doing up your seat belt after driving for a few blocks. I try and be organized before moving the vehicle.

theiceman

by law DVD should not be viewable by driver with engine running but I hear ya .
Good luck in the fight with " the man"

theiceman

They don't get ticketed , they just get killed instead ..

911 Rod

I just bought a hands free mount for my truck.

Am I good to go now? Can I text while I drive because it's not in my hand?

Just wondering .....

moab

Toronto cops are scum.

theiceman

Rod that is what I have and have been using it for years. I use it for waze and works great

911 Rod

This is the one I just picked up.

Best $35 ever! (other than Clive's powder coating)

Christien

I was actually reading an email when I got the ticket. It was several years ago when the law was fairly new, and I didn't realize you couldn't do that when you were stopped at a red light.

I'll bet you could fight this and win, explaining to the judge you were simply removing it from your pocket and setting it down. It's a bit much that any physical contact is completely illegal. If it got caught under your brake pedal and you retrieved it and placed it in the console, would that be distracted driving? Though in general I agree that we need serious enforcement of this law - it needs to become socially unacceptable, like DUI.

theiceman

I think that is harsh and unjustfied. I wouldn't want to be patrolling Jane and Finch at night, or be out at he side of the highway assisting with a breakdown when someone slams into you .

I think its a tough job , just some of us have a harder time swallowing medicine than others. If you feel you have bee wronged that's what the courts are for.

dml

I think you will probably lose. I recall reading in the paper that a woman who claimed she was picking the phone up because it fell on the floor tried to get off, and failed.

wc11

Texts, call & emails are time stamped so your phone records will have it all logged.

theiceman

its illegal to pick up and read also , which is not time stamped so this really will make no difference. its all just distracted driving at the discretion of the officer, and will quickly pass DUI in car fatalities if it has not already