Photo: Justin Guariglia/Corbis
Joe Warmington paints a rather unpleasant portrait of the law of unintended consequences today in the Toronto Sun. Ontario’s cell phone law for drivers came into effect this past October, and became officially enforced on February 1. Other jurisdictions have implemented similar bans throughout the country, with British Columbia following suit recently as well.
The cell phone bans have been based on preliminary evidence that hand-held devices cause distraction for drivers, and the consequences in some cases have been fatal. During the first month of Ontario’s new law, the Ontario Provincial police have issued 470 fines worth $155.
Some officers were given to discretionary changes of heart, issuing at least as many warnings, with 468 drivers let off the hook. The GTA saw the most fines handed out in February, at 155. In Joe Warmington’s story, which takes place in the GTA, not only was the driver not spared the ticket, but she missed a funeral because of it.
Life-long criminal and menace to society at large, Robert Clifford Smith, with more than 100 serious criminal convictions to his name, was released from jail just two days before leading police on a chase that resulted in the collateral death of 26-year-old driver Sara Attayee on February 16.
Here’s what happened next:
Two days later the Kumars — Rekha, 28, Sonia and Sapna, 23, and Sangeeta, 19 — were among the mourners who went to Sara’s funeral at the Uma Nabawi Mosque in York Region and followed the crowd to the burial site.
“We live in Toronto so we got confused,” Rekha said.
Sonia got on her cellphone for directions, but the problem was the person at the other end speaks Farsi and was explaining in broken English. Sonia had trouble understanding so she handed the phone to her sister behind the wheel.
They all noticed the flashing lights.
The York Regional Police who stopped the sisters and detained them for 10 minutes, not only did not provide directions afterward, but they issued a $155 ticket. Then they missed the funeral of their deceased friend.
Joe Warmington makes a good point. Perhaps the province can explain the disconnect of priorities here. Menace to society versus menacing society. Worst of all, it may be that distracted driving laws don’t reduce the number of crashes at all.
