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Effective Monday, February 1, 2010 Bill 118 will be aggressively enforced in Ontario (by the O.P.P) and Toronto (by the Toronto Police) and expect a ticket with a fine starting at $ 155.00. On top of the fine, those driver’s charged will be faced with a victim fine surcharge, as well as the court costs which is added to the initial fine.

The O.P.P have been issuing numerous tickets for motorists using their cellphones during the Ontario governments “education period” or grace period between Oct.26/09 and Jan.31/10 and will issue many more when official enforcement is to begin on February 1, 2010.

Due to a high number of pedestrian deaths (in which motor vehicles were involved) in Toronto (10 in 9 days), Toronto’s Chief of Police, Bill Blair recently said “there is a new legislation for distracted drivers, which is an issue as well. The law against use of hand-held devices while driving will be aggressively enforced starting in February”.

This is Ontario’s newest law (which carries a fine up to $500.00) which prohibits driver’s from texting, typing, emailing, dialing or talking or listening to messages using a hand-held device (includes cellphones, smartphones, iPhones, portable videogames and media players). This includes viewing screens on laptop computers or DVD players: Bill 118, Countering Distracted Driving and Promoting Green Transportation Act, 2009 . See Government website:

The new law only applies to “hand-held devices”
Did you know that drivers who text, type, email, dial or chat using a hand-held device could be fined up to $500 for:

Using hand-held cellphones, smartphones, portable videogames and media players
Viewing screens on laptops or DVD players
Driver’s may use hands-free devices:

Cellphones with an earpiece, headset or Bluetooth device using voice dialing
Global Positioning System (GPS) units mounted on the dashboard
Portable media players (ie-iPod) plugged into vehicle’s sound system
The law does not apply to:

Driver’s in vehicles pulled off the roadway or lawfully parked
9-1-1 calls
Display screens showing information about the vehicle’s status
This law will most affect those who drive for a living or who use their vehicles as a mobile office. If you need to talk while your driving a motor vehicle, make sure that you use an earpiece, headset or Bluetooth device using voice dialing that is compatible with your cellphone or other electronic device that you are using; if you do use one of these, as opposed to picking up your phone to speak or dial, you will save yourself the unnecessary inconvenience of having to pull over and then having to deal with the ticket issued. There are other gadgets that can be used to avoid a ticket, which carries with it a maximum fine of $ 500.00