Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Ban on cellphone use while driving a year away
IT will likely be illegal to drive and talk on a cellphone in Manitoba by this time next year.
Provincial lawmakers are still putting the legal wording into place, but they hope a ban on using a cellphone or texting while driving will begin to be enforced in the fall of 2010.
Dangerous messages
THE Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project released a survey this week on teen cellphone use in the United States. It found:
One in three texting teens aged 16-17 say they have texted while driving. That translates into 26 per cent of all American teens aged 16-17.
Half of cell-owning teens aged 16-17 say they have talked on a cellphone while driving. That's 43 per cent of all American teens aged 16-17.
48 per cent of teens aged 12-17 say they have been in a car when the driver was texting.
40 per cent say they have been in a car when the driver used a cellphone in a way that put someone in danger.
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The proposed fines are $191 for talking or text messaging on a handheld device, a spokesman for Transportation Minister Steve Ashton said.
The same bill also bans smoking in a vehicle with a child under 16.
Confirmation of when the new laws will be enforced came a day after a Jeep with six occupants rolled over on Grant Avenue.
People at the scene near Shaftesbury High School reported the 18-year-old driver was talking on a cellphone when he lost control.
On Tuesday, police said they could not confirm the crash was linked to cellphone use, but they're treating it as a possibility.
"We're not at the stage of the investigation where we're able to confirm that," Winnipeg Police Service Const. Jason Michalyshen said.
He said officers were looking into whether the vehicle was speeding.
A 16-year-old boy, two 15-year-old girls, a 15-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl were also in the vehicle when it lost control. Several people were ejected, meaning they were not wearing seatbelts. The Jeep is not a six-passenger vehicle.
Michalyshen said the driver will be treated as an adult if he is charged, and the registered owner of the car could be legally liable.
"Everyone has to take some responsibility here," he said.
The officer added there is no evidence alcohol or intoxicants were involved.
Manitoba introduced legislation a year ago to ban cellphone use while driving. The law has been passed but the government opted for a public education campaign lasting several months before enforcement of the law begins.
Last week, Saskatchewan tabled legislation to ban cellphones and texting while driving. The penalty will be $280 and four demerits. In Ontario, the cellphone ban starts Feb. 1. Drivers could face fines of up to $500. In B.C., offenders will be fined $167 as of Feb. 1 if caught texting or emailing. They will also receive three penalty points on their driving records.
bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca gabrielle giroday@freepress.mb.ca
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 18, 2009 A3
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