Automatic licence suspension 'not the answer' to texting and driving: ticket fighter

A Winnipeg traffic ticket fighter says legislative changes intended to curb distracted driving in Manitoba could end up penalizing innocent drivers by imposing an automatic licence suspension as soon as they're charged.

Len Eastoe, a former police officer who runs Traffic Ticket Experts, told a legislative committee Wednesday an amendment to automatically suspend licences from drivers charged for texting behind the wheel enforces a penalty ahead of the courts.

"We don't want to put the cart before the horse," Eastoe said in his presentation to the Standing Committee on Legislative Affairs.

The new legislation, introduced by Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler in March, would create a three-day licence suspension for drivers charged with using a hand-operated electronic device, like a cellphone, on their first offence.

After that, drivers charged a second time in a 10-year period would lose their licences for seven days.

Eastoe said charged drivers should be given the chance to make their case in court, and repercussions shouldn't be imposed until they're found guilty.

The evidence is that what we're doing right now is not working.- Ron Schuler, infrastructure minister 

"There should be no suspension until — based on [police] evidence — until the case is heard in court, in front of a judge, and the person is found guilty," he said.

"Then MPI or the courts can impose whatever suspension they want, at that point."

Winnipeg police handed out about 4,500 distracted driving tickets yearly, according to their 2018 business plan. RCMP issued 1,100 distracted driving tickets in 2016, up from 700 the year before, an RCMP spokesperson told CBC News in March. 

"The tragedies that happened on the road, nobody is certainly wanting that to continue. And yes, we have a problem with cellphones. It does have to get under control," Eastoe said.

"This bill, however, is not the answer to that. We need the courts to make those decisions, not MPI."

29 deaths in 2016: minister

Infrastructure minister Schuler called distracted driving an "epidemic" in Canada and Manitoba.

Distracted driving accidents killed 29 people in 2016, Schuler said. According to MPI, the number of distracted driving crashes in 2016 jumped to 11,086 from 2,415 in 2011.

"We've never seen something like this before," he said.

He said he's willing to risk some police officers getting it wrong if it helps save lives.

"I would be fine with occasionally a police officer maybe not getting it exactly right if we could eliminate those 29 deaths," Schuler told the committee. "Nobody stood up for them."

Waiting to implement licence suspensions until after accused drivers fight their tickets in court could clog up the justice system, he added.

"What that would do to our court system is just render it ineffective," he said. "If you want to challenge it, then you go to court."

Schuler said the province doesn't have "hard numbers" about the effect of licence suspensions, but some other jurisdictions — including Ontario — are bringing in similar moves. The province will keep track of statistics under the new bill to monitor its effect, he said.

"The evidence is that what we're doing right now is not working."