PEI to Implement Ban on Cell Phone Use While Driving

5:42 pm on January 22, 2010 | Category: Cell Phones, Editorials, Mobile Devices, Regulation

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Beginning tomorrow, Prince Edward Island will join the growing list of Canadian provinces to ban the use of handheld mobile devices behind the wheel.

Drivers who are caught using a cell phone, smartphone, GPS device, or laptop behind the wheel will be subject to fines of $250 to $400, as well as three demerit points. Like British Columbia, the tiny island province will not begin issuing fines immediately, but hand out warning tickets during an “initial adjustment period.”

“I am extremely pleased that this government has recognized the dangers caused by using hand-held devices while driving and has enacted legislation to address it,” commented PEI Transportation Minister, Ron MacKinley. “The research clearly shows that accident risk is much greater when drivers are making calls or texting. There is no doubt we will have safer highways as the driving public moves to comply with this new law.”

Like most politicians, however, MacKinley refuses to recognize that a plethora of other distractions can prove just as dangerous. New research suggests that the very act of talking to a passenger can significantly impair one’s ability to drive.

Ultimately, the solution to distracted driving is individual common sense, not a bunch more heavy-handed laws that truly irresponsible drivers will ignore anyway.

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    1. Gosh even in P.E.I. you say? With its millions of motorists clogging the freeways , overpasses and interchanges of the Island cities I am sure glad to see them intoducing this measure.Should save thousands of lives. What a News story! Next thing you know throwing spuds at passing motorists will be banned. What’s the world coming to !!!!

      Comment by Carl Burton — January 22, 2010 #

    2. Saskatoon, Sask. – Population 212,000
      Regina, Sask. 200,000
      Victoria, B.C. 350,000
      Calgary, Alta 1,000,000
      Edmonton, Alta 800,000
      Red Deer, Alta 150,000

      Province of P.E.I. 150.000
      Tells you something, doesn’t it ?

      Comment by Carl Burton — January 22, 2010 #

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