Penalty for using cell phones while driving is going up

MONTREAL – You’re taking a greater risk if you plan to use your phone while behind the wheel. As of April 23, drivers will be docked four demerit points. That’s up from the current three.

Some welcome the stiffer penalty as a stronger deterrent.

“People need to realize how dangerous it is to do that while driving,” one driver said.

Montreal police officers are cracking down on people using their phones while behind the wheel. They’re trying to change the driving culture in this wired world, where distractions are becoming more and more acute.

Texting drivers are 23 per cent more likely to be in a crash than non-texting drivers, according to CAA.

“People are not looking at what they’re doing while texting and before they didn’t do that,” another driver said.

The number of tickets issued to people caught on their phones while driving is staggering and it continues to rise. In 2008, police officers across the province issued 11,485 tickets. Three years later the number of infractions jumped to 56,727.

Last year alone, police officers wrote 66,660 tickets to drivers using their phones.

“Fifty-two weeks a year our officers are on the look out for people who are texting and driving because they represent a danger on the road for themselves, but also for others as well,” Insp. André Durocher told Global News.

“We see it growing continuously despite the strong campaigns so we’re trying to send a strong message,” he added.

Dorval resident André Noel supports safer driving standards. He recorded an STM bus driver talking on his cell phone while driving last week.

Noel fears the wake up call isn’t ringing loud enough for people to understand the risks.

“When I do ride the bus and I’m seeing some guy texting in the car beside me in the busy traffic, I don’t know, it just doesn’t make sense any more,” he said.

Police officers and many others hope the culture will change so that drivers will spend more time with their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road.