The province is taking direct aim at motorist's wallets in efforts to curb distracted driving.
Yesterday, Ontario passed the "Making Ontario’s Roads Safer Act".
The new act will:
- Increase fines for distracted driving from the current range of $60 to $500 to a range of $300 to $1,000, assigning three demerit points upon conviction, and escalating sanctions on convictions for novice drivers
- Apply current alcohol-impaired sanctions to drivers who are drug impaired
- Introduce additional measures to address repeat offenders of alcohol impaired driving
- Require drivers to wait until pedestrians have completely crossed the road before proceeding at school crossings and pedestrian crossovers
- Increase fines and demerits for drivers who ‘door’ cyclists, and require all drivers to maintain a minimum distance of one metre when passing cyclists where possible
- Help municipalities collect unpaid fines by expanding licence plate denial for drivers who do not pay certain Provincial Offences Act fines
- Allow a broader range of qualified medical professionals to identify and report medically unfit drivers, and clarify the types of medical conditions to be reported.
The new fines and measures will come into force over the coming months.
If current collision trends continue, fatalities from distracted driving may exceed those from drinking and driving by next year.
According to recent statistics, over 45 per cent of drivers killed in Ontario were found to have drugs or a combination of drugs and alcohol in their system.
Pedestrians represent about one in five motor vehicle-related fatalities on Ontario roads — 46 per cent of which occurred at intersections.
