Ban on hand-held devices while driving to start in late October

Ontario’s new law that bans the use of hand-held devices while driving will take effect on October 26, the Ministry of Transportation announced Wednesday.

The new law will make it illegal for drivers to talk, text, type, dial or email using hand-held cell phones and other hand-held communications and entertainment devices. The use of hands-free devices will still be permitted.

The province says it will focus on educating drivers for the first three months of the ban beginning in late October, and police will start issuing tickets on February 1, 2010.

Exceptions to the new law are calling 9-1-1 in an emergency situation and when the driver has safely pulled off the roadway and is stationary or is lawfully parked.

Police, fire department and emergency medical services personnel will still be able to use hand-held wireless communications devices and view display screens in the normal performance of their duties.

Drivers in some transport-related industries, like school buses, taxis and couriers, and public service workers, such as transit and highway maintenance workers, have been granted a three-year phase-out period for the commercial use of two-way radios, including mobile and CB radios, to allow for hands-free technologies to be developed.