Bill seeks to ban people from using cellphones while crossing streets
Posted Oct 30, 2017 08:51:21 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A Liberal MPP is set to table a private member’s bill at Queen’s Park on Monday that would crack down on pedestrians who cross the street while looking at their cellphones.
According to a statement on his website, Etobicoke Centre MPP Yvan Baker said the bill, which is called the Phones Down, Heads Up Act, would “prevent pedestrians from using phones or electronic devices when crossing roadways.”
If the bill passes, violators would be fined $50 for the first offence, $75 for the second and $125 for the third.
A 2015 report from Toronto Public Health found that inattentiveness was a factor in 13 per cent of serious collisions involving pedestrians between 2008 and 2012.
Municipalities in Ontario would be allowed to opt out of the bill if they so choose.
The proposed bill has the support of the Ontario Safety League as well as the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association.
