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DRIVERS BUS-TED: White Rock police get new perspective on distracted driving

Officers use local transit to crack down on drivers using cellphones behind the wheel

White Rock RCMP took distracted-driving enforcement to new heights Wednesday – from the vantage point of TransLink buses – cracking down on motorists who were using their cellphones behind the wheel.

Const. Chantal Sears spent the day riding some of the Peninsula’s busier bus routes – including the 351 and C361 – checking on drivers’ activities from above, then relaying details of offenders to officers tasked with pulling the drivers over and issuing the relevant penalties.

“People are trying to be discreet, with their cellpones down on their laps,” Sears said, in explaining the logic for the bus initiative.

“You need a higher vantage point to see down into their laps to confirm.”

Police across the Lower Mainland are putting an extra focus on distracted drivers this month. In Surrey, the campaign is set to launch Thursday.

Wednesday, with ICBC road safety co-ordinator Karen Klein along for the ride, Sears spotted the first offender within five minutes of leaving Ocean Park.

“Grey F150. Cellphone in his right hand,” she relayed to an officer as the 351 rolled eastward along North Bluff Road. “Holding it in his right hand, by the shifter. The screen was lit up.”

That driver, who Sears described as a middle-aged male, received a $368-ticket and four penalty points.

But he wasn’t the only one hit with the sanction.

Later in the morning, in line at the intersection of 152 Street and 18 Avenue, a Nissan driver was seen using his phone.

“Nissan driver right behind me. He’s scrolling on a phone,” Sears relayed from her seat at the back of the bus.

A moment later, as the lights changed to green and an officer in a marked vehicle approached from behind the oblivious driver, Sears provided an update: “Yep, still on his phone. It’s in his right hand. Doesn’t even see you.”

Klein said distracted driving is the second-leading cause of fatal car crashes in B.C., killing 78 people every year.

Enforcement and education initiatives are aimed at driving home “the risks and the consequences of the bad behaviour,” Klein said.

“It’s a big problem, but socially, it’s an acceptable behaviour in every other corner in our life, and it’s transferring into the car.”

In a statement emailed to PAN, White Rock Staff Sgt. Daryl Creighton noted cellphone use is not the only form of distracted driving being targeted.

“Examples of what not to do include doing one’s makeup in the rearview mirror while driving, reading a novel or driving with a coffee (in) each hand because the cup holders were full – all examples I have seen personally,” Creighton said.

“We have a responsibility to exercise all due care and attenion necessary to be a safe road user.”

Klein and Sears encouraged people whose vehicles are equipped with Bluetooth to pair their cellphones; they also suggested motorists get a distracted-driving app for their cellphones, which, whenever they are on the road, prevent notifications from popping up.

“The message is, take a break from your phone,” said Klein. “There’s no text or phone call that’s worth it.”

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Const. Chantal Sears uses an app that automatically sends messages to anyone who tries to text her while she’s driving. (Tracy Holmes photo)
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A driver spotted using his phone at an intersection is pulled over by a White Rock officer during Wednesday’s distracted-driving blitz. Const. Chantal Sears alerted a fellow officer after witnessing – through the back window of a C361 shuttle – the driver scrolling on his phone. (Tracy Holmes photo)


Tracy Holmes

About the Author: Tracy Holmes

Tracy Holmes has been a reporter with Peace Arch News since 1997.
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