After fine increases went into effect on February first, SGI made distracted driving their spotlight issue for the month, police still managed to find 647 drivers that chose to risk the hefty new fines in order to use their smartphone.

While that is a significant and sustained drop from the highs experienced in 2019 leading up to the November announcement of the new penalties, there is still much work left to be done.

Tyler McMurchy is the Media Relations Manager with SGI.

"While we have seen numbers come down from the average of nearly 900 per month that police were reporting when distracted driving numbers were reaching their peak in 2019, we know that there are still people who are looking at their phones while driving or who are distracted in other ways."

McMurchy added that he does believe that the increased fines which took effect on February 1, 2020, had an effect on the drop in distracted driving numbers. Despite the fact that there is still more work that clearly needs to be done, that message seemed to be getting out to drivers in the months between the initial announcement of the fine increase and the effective date.

The month before the increased fines were announced; October of 2019 saw a provincial record of 1300 distracted driving offences, contributing to the aforementioned 900 per month average in 2019.

"Clearly it was a problem at that was getting out of hand. The only thing that wasn't out of hand were drivers' cell phones."

So seeing those numbers drop, first in November and now sustained into February is a good sign in his eyes, and one that he hopes to see continue as law enforcement continues to put more emphasis on looking for those distracted drivers.

"Even the few times that I've been out of the house to make that run to the grocery store I've seen still a few drivers looking down at their phone. So we know that not everybody has gotten the message but we think a lot of people have. I think those stiffer penalties did get a lot of people's attention."

Under the stiffer regulations, a first offence will cost $580 dollars and 4 demerit points; A second will cost $1,400, 4 demerit points and a 7-day vehicle impound; and a third will cost $2,100, an additional 4 demerit points and another 7-day vehicle impound.