It’s not like they weren’t given a head’s up about it.
Vernon RCMP warned drivers, through the media, that they were going to be targeting motorists on Valentine’s Day for distracted driving violations.
Now maybe Feb. 14 was used so people would remember, or maybe the authorities thought it had the potential for higher instances of social media interaction, nevertheless, we were warned.
And they followed through and ended up issuing 20 tickets for distracted driving, along with 22 people being ticketed for not wearing a seatbelt and a further nine receiving fines for operating a defective motor vehicle.
Now we’re quite sure the 20 people who had to cough up $167, along with three points, aren’t too happy about it, after all there are likely thousands during the province-wide campaign who got away with distracted driving on that very same day.
However, that’s how safety enforcement works. Nab a few of the offenders and hope the message gets across to the masses that distracted driving is not tolerated in these parts.
Although social media can and does dominate too many of our lives 24/7, it can’t be allowed to make our highways unsafe, where distracted driving is being blamed for more and more accidents.
That text, that call and that tweet can wait until you get where you are going. If it, for some reason, can’t, you must pull over and stop to check it or respond. That’s the law, for all of our sakes.
And consider yourself warned, once again.
