Guelph police say officers handed out six distracted driving tickets in the span of one hour at a downtown intersection Wednesday morning.
Police on foot patrol were set up at the corner of Macdonell and Norfolk streets between 11 a.m. and noon.
“In a span of one hour, that is a lot of people that are not following the rules of the road and are putting themselves as well as other people at risk,” said Const. Josh Fraser.
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He said distracted driving has become as big of a problem as impaired driving and some drivers are still not getting the message.
“We still want to get the message out there that when you’re on the road to operate your motor vehicle in a safe manner,” Fraser said. “There’s several devices that now come hands-free so that we don’t need to be on our phones.”
A distracted driving ticket comes with a $490 fine and three demerit points.
Police said a driver using a phone is four times more likely to crash than a driver focusing on the road.
“If you need to use your phone — if it’s urgent, we advise people to pull off and have your car in park so you’re not operating the motor vehicle,” Fraser said.
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