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B.C. Judge: Holding Your Phone While Driving Violates the Motor Vehicle Act
A judge in British Columbia has ruled that holding your phone while driving is still a violation of the Motor Vehicle Act.
Kelowna, B.C. driver Samuel Austin Bainbridge was fined $368 in September 2016 and the judge upheld the penalty against him. In January 2018, Bainbridge argued the decision in court saying he was “only holding” the phone and was not actually using it. He said:
“I wasn’t communicating with anyone. Force of habit to have [the] phone in my hands.”
The two officers that pulled him over verified his statement and said they did not see the phone near his ear or his lips moving. During the appeal, he said that in previous cases the court said they must prove the person was using the phone. The Motor Vehicle Act says that use is “holding the device in a position in which it may be used.”
In the end, Judge Brian Burgess ruled that holding the device was just as dangerous as if he was using it. Bainbridge was then ordered to pay the fine.
[via CBC News]
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Good.
But it’s perfectly legal to hold a beverage, sandwich or other food in your hand…which is equally as dangerous as holding a phone, according to the judge’s reasoning.
I think a cop probably could ticket someone for holding a sandwich while driving and it’d hold up after this…
Except a cop likely won’t because it’s not as black and white as anything to do with a cellphone. The cops are under pressure from icbc or the city to crack down because it’s an easy cash cow for them to milk.
What reason do you have to hold your phone while driving other that to use it at some point?
As for most other things in the car, I can do without looking. I can pick up a drink and drink some, and put it back without taking my eyes off the road.
Same argument dude as someone holding a phone. You’re being distracted and you’re not fooling anyone but yourself thinking you’re not buy not having both hands on the wheel and driving.
I’m afraid you’re mistaken. Adjusting the radio, talking with other people in the car, listening to music at a “loud” volume or even having a drink in the cupholder (yet not touching or drinking it) are all examples of what can be considered “distracted driving” in BC and are potentially ticket-able offences, at the sole discretion of the officer issuing the ticket.
And in some places reading Harry Potter books will get you arrested.
just use a vent clip. you can talk and do whatever you want and not be ticketed. better yet, get a car with bluetooth.
Driving stick shift should also be ruled illegal by this judge since you’re “holding the [stick shift] in your hand”
Why did you offerred such an idiotic comment?
Oh Sam. Look up “sarcasm” and “humour” in the dictionary and then reread my comment. Then get a book on grammar and rewrite your comment. And then get a book on self-restraint and realize that just because there is a keyboard in front of you doesn’t mean that you have to use it.
If you were going for “sarcasm” and “humour”, then make your intention plain. Since you did not then you open up your comment for interpretation and that was mine.
If you explicitly have to state that you are going for sarcasm and humour then your comment is already not sarcastic nor humorous.
Go online and do your own homework on how to convey sarcasm and humour effectively “in written form”. It is an interesting topic 🙂
Studies show that the laws are wrong. Distraction is not from holding the phone, it is from concentrating on the conversation. Hands-free cell phones are JUST AS DISTRACTING AND DANGEROUS as a hand-held phone. The judge is an idiot.
This leads to my question whether the cops could stop and fine you if your iPhone was cradled and at eye level in your car. You are not holding it, it’s just sitting in a cradle. What’s the law in regards to using a phone cradle? Anyone have any experience?
The new BC legislation that is now in effect is so broad that basically the officer has sole discretion to determine in their opinion whether or not you are committing an act of distracted driving. It’s become so overzealous that it can literally mean anything IE the whim of a grumpy officer who is having a bad morning.
Then I see a Toronto cop on the with one hand on his cellphone to his ear and the other hand holding a sandwich and wheel while he temporarily turns his sirens on to advance on a red light and turns his sirens off after. Who’s more dangerous?
Lot of hysteria here, but let’s be honest folks: you shouldn’t be “holding” your phone if you’re supposed to be driving. Yes, in some cases “holding” a phone doesn’t constitute being distracted, but if we allow people to “hold” their phone, that would open the floodgates for people to dispute tickets for all kinds of silly reasons.
I will eat and drink all I want in my vehicle.