The Saint John Police Force recently announced a distracted driving campaign from April 7 to 10.
The purpose of the campaign is to educate the public on the dangers of driving distracted while penalizing those who do.
Police are asking drivers to prevent these habits by adjusting seats, mirrors, climate controls, and navigation systems before driving. Passengers may also adjust things for a driver to avoid taking attention off the road. Electronic devices should only be used when pulled over to a safe location to ensure that eyes stay focused on the road and hands stay on the steering wheel.
Drivers guilty of distracted driving could face fines, a loss of demerit points, or potentially cause an accident.
In enforcing distracted driving legislation, the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators and the Strategy to Reduce Impaired Driving define driver distraction as “the diversion of attention from driving, as a result of the driver focusing on a non-driving object, activity, event, or person. This diversion reduces awareness, decision-making, or performance, leading to increased risk of driver error, near-crashes or crashes. The diversion of attention is not attributable to a medical condition, alcohol/drug use and/or fatigue.”
