Cellphone ban begins for Ontario drivers
Last Updated: Monday, October 26, 2009 | 10:50 PM ET
CBC News
Related
Internal Links
- IN DEPTH: Driving and dialing
- INTERACTIVE: Where driving and dialing don't mix
- 92% of Ontario drivers will obey cellphone ban: poll
- Hands-free phones just as risky: psychologist
- Ontario to ban cellphone use while driving
- Ontario to outlaw texting in traffic
- Curb cellphone use while driving to avoid collisions, doctors urge Ont. govt.
- B.C. to limit cellphone use while driving
- Sask. to ban texting, cellphone use while driving
- Alberta considers provincewide ban on cellphones while driving
External Links
(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - links will open in new window)
An Ontario law came into effect Monday making it illegal for drivers to use hand-held cellphones, BlackBerrys and other electronic devices while behind the wheel.
Drivers are forbidden to use hand-held devices to talk, text or email while behind the wheel, or to use portable video games or DVD players.
The only exception to the ban is a 911 call.
"This law is about keeping your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel," Transportation Minister Jim Bradley said at a news conference in Toronto Monday. "We need to prevent these unnecessary road accidents and I believe this law will do just that."
Hands-free cellphones remain legal, and global positioning systems are allowed if they're secured to the dashboard.
The Ministry of Transport said the ban is needed because driver distraction is a factor in 20 per cent of all road accidents. Bradley said one U.S. study found texting boosted the risk of a collision 23 times.
Starting Feb. 1, drivers could face fines of up to $500 if they're caught violating the ban. There are no demerit points attached to the law.
'Positive step forward'
Toronto police Insp. Gary Meisner, speaking on behalf of Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, said Monday that police are looking forward to the legislation, which he described as "a positive step forward and an important one for improving public safety."
Police will be warning motorists for the first three months to stay off the phone instead of handing out tickets. But drivers can still be charged under existing dangerous or careless driving laws, which have fines of up to $1,000, six demerit points, a driver's licence suspension and possible jail time.
A survey released in September showed that about 92 per cent of Ontario drivers intended to obey the law.
Newfoundland and Labrador became the first province to ban the use of hand-held cellphones in 2003, while Quebec and Nova Scotia both moved earlier this year to stop drivers from using hand-held cellphones. Similar legislation has also been introduced in British Columbia.
Saskatchewan and Alberta have also announced their intentions to table similar legislation this fall.
More than 50 countries and jurisdictions around the world have banned cellphone use while driving.
With files from The Canadian PressShare Tools
Top News Headlines
- U.S. bank reforms could hurt Canadians, Flaherty fears
- Canada's finance minister and the governor of the Bank of Canada have formally complained to their American counterparts that proposed banking reforms could harm Canadian banks, business, investors and the government itself. more »
- Organ donation rates go flat
- Organ donation rates have stagnated in Canada since 2006, according to a new report. more »
- CBC digital music service launches today
- CBC is diving into the world of online music with the goal of providing listeners access to their favourite tunes, and a way to discover new artists and connect with fellow music fans. more »
- Whitney Houston death shows no signs of trauma
- Whitney Houston's life of glorious song and unnerving self-destruction apparently ended on Grammy weekend, but it could be weeks before investigators know exactly why she died. more »
Latest Technology & Science News Headlines
- Chinese iPhone, iPad factories audited
- Chinese factories where Apple devices are assembled are undergoing voluntary audits of their working conditions by an independent workers' rights watchdog that the company recently joined. more »
- Teen's Facebook post prompts dad to shoot computer
- A North Carolina father responded to his daughter's disrespectful Facebook post by shooting her laptop and putting the video on Youtube. more »
- CBC digital music service launches today
- CBC is diving into the world of online music with the goal of providing listeners access to their favourite tunes, and a way to discover new artists and connect with fellow music fans. more »
- Video game's 50th anniversary marked by MIT
- Students at MIT celebrated the 50th anniversary of Spacewar!, the first videogame in history, by re-creating it on a computer the size of a business card. more »
Bob McDonald's Blog
Glacier Discovery Walk: Will the visitor centre enhance the view? Feb. 10, 2012 3:17 PM Environment minister Peter Kent has announced the construction of a new Glacier Discovery Walk and visitor centre on the Icefields Parkway in Jasper National Park. It raises the issue of how to balance commercial development in our National Parks against the preservation of the last refuges of wilderness.
Quirks & Quarks
- February 11: Inside the Mind of a Neandertal Feb. 10, 2012 4:01 PM Can we get inside the mind of a species that's been dead for 30,000 years? A new book, How to Think Like a Neanderthal, suggests we can. The authors reconstruct a creature like us in many ways, but with important differences.
Latest Features
- 'Disgusting' court backlog may free hit and run accused
- Adele wins best album, best record Grammys
- Whitney Houston autopsy results withheld
- Whitney Houston death shows no signs of trauma
- Quebec town 'heartbroken' after killing of woman, sisters
- Ice road closed after 2 incidents
- Greece cleans up after anti-austerity riots
- CBC digital music service launches today
- Manitoba wants ER death lawsuit thrown out
