Getting the message

Since the distracted driver legislation’s education period ended Feb. 1, Thunder Bay Police Service issued only eight tickets and the OPP handed out seven to motorists using handheld devices while driving.

While it’s not a widespread problem, Thunder Bay Police traffic Sgt. Glenn Porter said there are still people out there that know better; they’re just not complying with the law.
Just Monday morning, Porter said he stopped a man who was talking while stopped at a red light.

"He had the phone up to his ear and I signalled for him to stop and he was still talking on the phone as I was walking up to the truck to talk to him about the offence," he said. "His response was ‘I thought you guys were still giving out caution tickets.’ I think it’s just going to be a question of people getting charged and the word getting around that the police are actually laying the charges before people start paying attention to it."

While checking for drivers using handheld devices is part of the police’s regular patrols, Porter said they found it was convenient to do it while conducting speeding blitzes.

Officers were situated on Arthur Street West Monday morning; Porter said he noticed speeds were getting excessive on the stretch by the Thunder Bay Mall.

"This is a 50-kilometre (per hour) zone and we’re finding speeds in excess of 80 kilometres (per hour) as they’re approaching the lights here," Porter said.

In the past three days, the police had issued 80 tickets for speed violations.

Porter also mentioned as they’ve been looking for people on cell phones, they’ve noticed many vehicles with tinted windows and they’re going to be more vigilant enforcing that law.
"It is the law that you can’t have tinting that obscures the (ability to identify) the driver from both sides," he said, adding the fine for having tinted windows is $110. Click here to submit a letter to the editor.