Distracted driving fines to more than double on Saturday

Fines for distracted driving in Saskatchewan are more than doubling as of Saturday.

The first ticket will cost an offender $580. A second goes up to $1,400, and a third to $2,100. The scaling resets after a year has passed since the initial ticket.

The first offence previously carried a fine of $280.

Tyler McMurchy with SGI told 650 CKOM’s Brent Loucks the vast majority of these fines come from cellphone use behind the wheel.

“If people can keep their phone out of their hand, and keep from watching videos on it and scrolling through and typing on it, they’ve already substantially reduced their chances of getting one of these big tickets,” McMurchy explained.

That being said, you can still get written up for other distracting activities. As for what those are, it’s up to common sense and police discretion.

“You could not possibly write a law that covers the infinite number of potentially distracting activities,” McMurchy said. ” ‘The law didn’t say specifically that I can’t juggle hamsters while driving with my feet!’ You couldn’t do that. You’re not allowed to read a book (or) that kind of thing.”

However, he believes most people won’t get ticketed as long as they avoid using their phones.

“You can still have a sip of coffee. You can still carry on a conversation with your passengers. You can still eat a granola bar,” he said.

“I would be careful eating a bowl of cereal or anything that requires chopsticks.”

In addition to the monetary fines, each ticket includes four insurance demerits. After the first offence, the vehicle will be impounded at a cost to the driver for seven days.