A couple of tweets from Victoria Police today tell a cautionary tale of what happens when you’re not paying attention to the road while driving.
Today officers caught a man who was on his cell phone while driving through a school zone. Turns out, it was his second offence, which meant that he got a hefty $888 fine for his actions. Of course, he didn’t just accept the ticket without a fight.
According to a second tweet, instead of the usual argument (“I wasn’t actually using my phone!”), this guy went with trying to convince the officer that he shouldn’t be ticketed because he’s a “safe” driver.
Sigh. Today, we caught a driver on his cellphone driving through a school zone. Second offence – $888. Someone didn't get the #CanadaRoadSafetyWeek message. #yyjtraffic. @vicpdtraffic pic.twitter.com/kaLpXIdObb
— Victoria Police (@vicpdcanada) May 15, 2018
In BC, distracted driving will get you a penalty of at least $543 (this is the sum of an initial $368 fine, and the $175 cost to pay off points against the licence).
These are the penalties for all additional offences:
- 2nd offence: $368 + $520 in penalty points = $888
- 5th offence: $368 + $3760 in penalty points = $4,128
- 10th offence: $368 + $14,520 in penalty points = $14,888
So remember: all eyes on the road!
