A recent B-C Supreme Court case clarifies what constitutes distracted driving. Vice President of Parachute Canada, Pamela Fuselli and criminal lawyer, Kyla Lee, weigh in.
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Kyla Lee: “He was charged with using an electronic device while driving and the allegation was that the phone which was sitting wedge in the folds of the passenger seat was basically being used by him on the sheer fact that it was sitting in the passenger seat. The screen was not illuminated; he was not touching the phone; he was not interacting in it or looking at it in any way. At the traffic court level the judicial justice of the peace determined that this constituted use that the phone was required to be affixed to the vehicle using some sort of a contraption or a device, he appealed the decision and in BCSupremee Court. The judge determined after the Crown and the defence both agreed that this was not the law, that the law permits you to have a phone loose in your vehicle so long as you are not using it to do anything.”
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