Inattentive or distracted drivers are responsible for twice as many deaths on OPP-patrolled roads so far this year as impaired drivers, the police agency says.
According to police statistics, the OPP have investigated 38 on-road deaths in 2016 involving inattentive drivers, and 19 involving impaired drivers – a gap that has never been seen before.
“We always think of impaired drivers as the ones that are killing most of the people on the highway,” says OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt.
While out on patrol on Highway 400 Tuesday, Schmidt says he located a driver who was so fixated on his phone he didn’t notice the police car beside him for nearly a minute.
“If you get stopped for having a cellphone in your hand it's going to cost you $490 and there's three demerit points, but more importantly we want to prevent collisions.”
Ontarians need to be as vigilant about avoiding distracted driving as they are about the “equally threatening” behaviour of impaired driver, the OPP said in a press release.
Inattentive driving has been blamed for more than 600 deaths on OPP-patrolled roads since 2009.
