126 people charged with distracted driving between August 28 to September 8. That's when your kids were beginning to head back to school.

News 100 redBy Staff

September 20, 2017

BURLINGTON, ON

 

The numbers are embarrassing.

This is not what decent people do.

The Regional police release the top traffic offences statistics gathered during the 2017 Traffic Unit’s Project Safe Start. The numbers reflect what drivers were doing as the new school year kicked off in Halton.

school_zones sped sign 40kmh

The message is pretty clear. If we continue to disobey the rules there will come a time when a student will be under the wheels of a car.

For more than ten years, Project Safe Start has been a highly visible reminder to drivers in Halton that children are back in school. Project Safe Start stresses the need to slow down in and around school zones, watch for pedestrians and pay attention to school crossing guards escorting children across busy intersections.

Over the course of the 2017 two week campaign, which ran from August 28 to September 8, Top Traffic Offences Halton Regional Police Project Safe Start 2017Halton Regional Police officers focused on a number of unsafe driving behaviours. The top traffic offences observed by police were:

Speeding (1,042 charges),
Disobeying stop signs (480 charges) and
Distracted driving (126 charges).

Those distracted driving charges will become a lot more expensive upon conviction when pending legislation is passed.  If you are going to endanger people by using your cell phone while you drive – make sure you have taxi money in your pocket or purse – you may not get to drive your car home.

HRPS officers issued a total of 2,482 Provincial Offence Notices related to Project Safe Start 2017. This is a slight increase compared to the 2,299 Provincial Offence Notices issued during Project Safe Start in 2016. Police also issued 736 warnings to drivers in 2017.

HRPS also rolled out an aggressive social media campaign as part of the road safety initiative. Traffic messages and rules of the road were posted online every day. The messages gathered more than 137,000 impressions online.

“Traffic safety begins with the individual choices each driver makes.” said Sergeant Ryan Snow, Traffic Services Unit. “When drivers comply with the rules of the road, everyone wins and gets to go home safely.”

Residents are reminded that they can file driving complaints or request enforcement of a particular area online at www.haltonpolice.ca under Most Requested Information -> Roadwatch or Traffic Complaints respectively. Criminal/dangerous driving should be reported immediately by calling 9-1-1

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