Québec’s provincial automobile insurance (SAAQ), has teamed up with the Sûreté du Québec to go after a persistent problem in the province: people using mobile phones while sitting behind the wheel.
The joint operation has SAAQ agents working out of an unmarked bus with tinted windows to find violators of Quebec’s Highway Safety Code – especially those using cell phones.
More than 60 people were pulled over in a two day period.
Violators face fines of $127 with the loss of four demerit points.
But a spokesperson for the SAAQ says the blitz isn’t to catch as many people as possible.
Rather, it’s to send a message of public safety.
“What we want is to decrease the accidents on the road and save lives,” Marie-Josée Michaud of the SAAQ told Global News.
Holding a cell phone while driving is illegal.
Drivers are advised to use a phone mount attached to the car so the cell can be used handsfree with voice activated services whenever possible.
Sill, no excessive typing or web surfing is permitted.
The SAAQ advice is to put your mobile down and ignore it until you get to your destination. Or pull over and put your car in park.
This is the second time the SAAQ and the SQ have done a joint operation relating to cell phone and driving in the province.
They plan more in the near future.
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