Police on the bus went round and round in order to bust distracted drivers Wednesday.
People talking and texting while driving are usually on the lookout for police cars. So the Thunder Bay Police Service has come up with some inventive ways to catch them in the act. Officers rode city transit Wednesday afternoon, watching from the high windows of the bus as drivers chatted on phones, texted and even had dogs in their laps.
"They'll be able to get a different perspective," traffic Sgt. Glenn Porter said.
Once the officer on the bus spotted a distracted driver, a nearby police car was radioed to nab the unsuspecting offender and hand out a $155 fine.
"Some drivers are quite upset about the approach," Porter said.
Around six officers, along with CN and Canadian Pacific Railway Police, were involved in the operation. Porter said the resources are worth it in order to give drivers a message they don't seem to be getting through regular enforcement.
"It's a huge problem, everybody knows that. Everybody sees it on a daily basis," he said.
"It's enough of a problem that we're serious about stopping the problem."
The police have some other inventive ways to bust distracted drivers in the future. This operation was the second after officers posed as workers on the James Street bridge radioing officers waiting on the other side when they spotted a distracted driver. Porter said it's something the force has to do so that drivers stop being distracted instead of focusing on the road.
"We don't like to give out tickets," he said. "In a perfect world we wouldn't give out any tickets."
Police handed out 11 tickets for using a phone while driving, four seatbelt violations and five document violations.
