With a new law to enforce, Alberta Sheriffs and RCMP were kept busy over the Labour Day long weekend.
The province’s new distracted driving legislation came into effect on Sept. 1, and both forces were on the lookout for violators on highways in the first full weekend of enforcement.
In total, 29 distracted driving violations were handed out over the four days. Two of the most extreme examples included in a news release from the provincial government were a driver in Whitecourt who crossed the median while talking on a cellphone, and a driver in Fort McMurray who had a cellphone in one hand and an ice cream cup in the other while backing out of a parking stall.
In St. Albert, Cpl. Don Murray, head of traffic services with the local RCMP detachment, said that his members were set up at one of the major intersections along St. Albert Trail, focusing on making sure people buckled up their seatbelts, but they also handed out five tickets under the new distracted driving law.
“Four of them were for people driving with cellphones held up to their ears, and one was for a motorist texting and driving at the same time,” Murray said.
He added that most motorists seemed to be getting the message about distracted driving — even those who had been pulled over.
“From what I could see, the motorists who were stopped for [distracted driving] weren’t too surprised. … My personal observation, though, from what I can tell, the majority of people are complying with the legislation,” he said. “I’m not seeing the amount of cellphones and texting as we have in the past.”
Murray joked that he hasn’t seen “the guy eating poutine and steering with his knees lately,” but said he has seen a few ridiculous examples of distracted driving right here in his own backyard.
“I passed a woman downtown on St. Anne Street, and she had a cell phone up to one ear and a coffee cup in the other hand, so obviously she was doing the steer-with-the-knees trick as she went by me,” he said.
Elsewhere on provincial highways over the long weekend, police laid more than 3,700 other charges, including:
• 2,834 speeding violations;
• 55 hazardous driving violations, such as careless driving or stunting;
• 46 impaired driving charges, 55 other alcohol-related violations and 32 24-hour suspensions for drug or alcohol use;
• 73 instances of failing to stop at a stop sign;
• 160 seatbelt or child restraint infractions; and
• 459 other violations that ranged from driving without insurance to driving while suspended.
The highest speed recorded over the weekend was near Ponoka, where a driver was clocked at 212 km/h.
