The day before ICBC and Surrey and White Rock RCMP invited media to a distracted-driving awareness campaign Sept. 20 at Sunnyside and White Rock elementaries, Surrey RCMP traffic members handed out 59 tickets in two separate distracted-driving blitzes in Surrey.
From 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., officers monitored 176 Street near the 58 Avenue intersection, and from 3-5 p.m. RCMP monitored the 152 Street and Fraser Highway intersection.
According to ICBC road safety co-ordinator Karen Klein, officers issued a total of 36 tickets for distracted driving, 10 tickets for failing to obey traffic signals and various other infractions including following too close, no seatbelt and tinted windows.
“They’re stepping it up this month because it’s part of the month-long campaign provincially,” Karen Klein told Peace Arch News last Friday, adding that police and ICBC had another blitz planned in Surrey this month.
Klein said there’s still a misconception that drivers are allowed to use their phone at a red light.
“What we’re finding, at those bigger light cycles, people tend to pick up their phone, check a couple emails, do a few texts because they think it’s OK. But it’s not, you’re still in active traffic and a lot goes on in an intersection, a lot of accidents occur in intersections,” she said.
