General Road and Highway Discussion

[danbrotherston]

Without checking, based on your observations of other drivers, how many distracted driving charges would you estimate WRPS laid on average in 2019-2020?

Not enough, as there are still plenty of people driving with eyes on their cell phones, especially females and construction dudes in their pick-up trucks.

I know of a handful of people (all girls, actually) that have been charged with distracted driving. However, they were all stopped at stop signs or red lights. So while I get why they were charged, technically, in a stopped vehicle, you're at a very low risk of causing an accident. The one was charged for looking at her Apple Watch (because she was scrolling the watch).

So without looking, maybe 2-3,000.

Certainly not enough, in fact, I'd go so far as to say the number of drivers WRPS charged has almost nothing to do with how many drivers are distracted and instead how much WPRS has chosen to spend on enforcement (for whatever motivation). I'd bet money I've seen more distracted drivers this year, than WRPS has ticketed...I see many daily...I'm easily into the 1000s. Hell, that includes more than a few WRPS officers.

As for distracted drivers at a stop sign, don't know about the specific example you have, but I know a few things, most drivers I hear claim to only text at lights, are in fact distracted while driving to the light. How do I know, because I saw them on their phones approaching the light, and it's really scary to hear that a driver didn't even know they passed a cyclist.

And even leaving that aside, drivers distracted at lights are still a hazard, even leaving aside vehicles with massive front end blindspots, driving is about maintaining situation awareness, you lose that when you are on your phone. You look up, see a green light, and pull away, but lots of things can still go wrong. The most personal example was a driver who looked up, stepped on the gas, but had their steering wheel turned slightly right, and pulled into the bike lane...with me in it.

So yeah, when you're driving, you have only one task. Driving.