Alberta passes distracted driving law

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by REDVAN

But if I get a ticket for being on the phone at 2am on 26th ave SW I am going to be annoyed.

You'd deserve it.

This isn't a time restricted law IIRC.

[Rathji]

I don't drive a lot, and when I do it is often in different vehicles, so I am trying to figure out what kind of hands free system I need. I am thinking a bluetooth headset. If I got a headset, it would make sense for me that I would be able to listen to music/video on it while I am on the bus so I don't need to have 2 different things with me and switch between them.

Can anyone recommend a headset that would be suitable?

[MoneyGuy]

I'm doing a police ride-along tomorrow night and can ask some of these questions, such as how much leniency a cop is likely to give you. I suspect they'll be reasonable and will use proper discretion. I know they would.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Notorious Honey Badger

I spoke with a cop last night at Dennys just after midnight, and he said that if he saw someone hitting the pad of a GPS it's a judgement call. "if you're texting, doing your make up and all sorts of stuff, yes, I will pull you over. But I don't think it's a big deal if your just hitting a button on a mounted GPS".

Take it for what it's worth. I've found that most cops are just decent regular people and if you treat them as such you get back what you put in. He's right too in my opinion... I don't see how hitting a button on a GPS that's mounted is any different than changing the volume on the radio or turning on the AC.

For what it's worth.

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

I'm doing a police ride-along tomorrow night and can ask some of these questions, such as how much leniency a cop is likely to give you. I suspect they'll be reasonable and will use proper discretion. I know they would.

For what it's worth, I had to pass a cop off a light today (he was stopped when it turned green, I was just coming up to it, so had more speed going than him), and I was talking on my phone, and because I'm a lazy person, I just kept talking and hoped he wouldn' pull me over.

He definitly looked over and saw me talking, but took no interest. Of course, I'm generally still a good driver when on my phone (yeah yeah, I know, everyone says that), so if that was any indication, hopefully they will just focus on people that actually look distracted and not ****ing awesome, multitask drivers, like myself.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Rathji

I don't drive a lot, and when I do it is often in different vehicles, so I am trying to figure out what kind of hands free system I need. I am thinking a bluetooth headset. If I got a headset, it would make sense for me that I would be able to listen to music/video on it while I am on the bus so I don't need to have 2 different things with me and switch between them.

Can anyone recommend a headset that would be suitable?

What kind of phone? My iphone came with earphones with a mic on the cord. Tried that today and it works surprisingly well. I know my BB had one of those too, but I never did try it.

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

What kind of phone are you using with yours? The voice commands on my phone are a little hit/miss but I have a first generation Android phone, it doesnt have a ton of jam. I'd really like one of the new Android phones.

BB Bold and iphone 4.

The speaker and mic for a phone call seem to work really well for both. I haven't tried as many voice commands with the iphone.

[chalms04]

Thinking I might just take the money I would spend on a visor mount speaker and a new GPS map update, and put it towards a new GPS with integrated bluetooth and lifetime updates.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Robbob

In the Calgary herald they mentioned a few people were pulled over for warnings. One of them was drinking coffee which I thought was okay. Guy must have been shot gunning it.

I saw the same article, but I am finding more and more that the level of accuracy in the media is pretty shoddy these days. If the ticket was for simply drinking coffee, I'd expect to see that tossed out as the law doesn't prohibit it. Either the cop was misinformed, over zealous, or the reporter got it wrong. I could see all three being possible as the law is so new.

[Regulator75]

If drinking coffee is going to be targeted, then smoking should be too.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

I saw the same article, but I am finding more and more that the level of accuracy in the media is pretty shoddy these days. If the ticket was for simply drinking coffee, I'd expect to see that tossed out as the law doesn't prohibit it. Either the cop was misinformed, over zealous, or the reporter got it wrong. I could see all three being possible as the law is so new.

Yeah, in the early hours of this new law there seems to be a lot of confusion and mis information out there.

It's like September 11th all over...

[chalms04]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Yeah, in the early hours of this new law there seems to be a lot of confusion and mis information out there.

It's like September 11th all over...

9/1/11

Never forget

[BlackArcher101]

Originally Posted by REDVAN

Question: when the law says HIGHWAY that means Glenmore, Crowchild, Deerfoot? You shouldn't be doing any of that stuff on a freeway/highway anyway.

But if I get a ticket for being on the phone at 2am on 26th ave SW I am going to be annoyed.

Don't think anyone answered this yet. A highway basically covers everything. If the public is allowed to drive in a certain spot, then that is a highway.

Here's the definition:

“highway” means any thoroughfare, street, road, trail,
avenue, parkway, driveway, viaduct, lane, alley, square,
bridge, causeway, trestleway or other place or any part of
any of them, whether publicly or privately owned, that the
public is ordinarily entitled or permitted to use for the
passage or parking of vehicles and includes
(i) a sidewalk, including a boulevard adjacent to the
sidewalk,
(ii) if a ditch lies adjacent to and parallel with the
roadway, the ditch, and
(iii) if a highway right of way is contained between
fences or between a fence and one side of the
roadway, all the land between the fences, or all the
land between the fence and the edge of the roadway,
as the case may be,
but does not include a place declared by regulation not to
be a highway;

[Mccree]

Originally Posted by Realtor 1

Spend $10 and get the full version of Vlingo. It is wicked.

On a side note, watched a officer in a ghost car on 37th ave enjoy a conversation on his cell phone. Are they exempt? I tried to get a picture but figured if he saw me I would get the ticket.

Do use an iPhone? If so how do you make it work?k

[freedogger]

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

Don't think anyone answered this yet. A highway basically covers everything. If the public is allowed to drive in a certain spot, then that is a highway.

But not on a municipal bike path. Apparently I can still shave, eat my shreddies and watch HD movies on my new IPAD 2 while riding in on the bike path.

[Dion]

Police are already cracking down and are writing tickets to unfocused drivers.

CTV Calgary accompanied a Calgary Police patrol unit.

In a one hour time period, five people were pulled over for distracted driving.

Three were given warnings while two received fines of $172.

http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/loc...ub=CalgaryHome

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by 4X4

What kind of phone? My iphone came with earphones with a mic on the cord. Tried that today and it works surprisingly well. I know my BB had one of those too, but I never did try it.

I have a BB now, but my kids destroyed by earphones that had a mic. If they hadn't I probably would have been content with them .

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Rathji

I have a BB now, but my kids destroyed by earphones that had a mic. If they hadn't I probably would have been content with them .

Shiddy. Well, if you want to come to Woodlands, I have the ones from my old Bold. Never even took the twist tie off them.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by Dion

http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/loc...ub=CalgaryHome

How did they decide who got a warning? Was it based on bewbs??

[Acey]

Pretty sure I saw a woman in Lethbridge get a ticket this morning on the way to work. And then I got a $57 tint ticket.

[You Need a Thneed]

There's a new sign up on Stoney Trail Eastbound, just east of Deerfoot that says "Distracted Driving Law in Effect."