What You Need To Know About Ontario's 5 No-Nonsense New Traffic Laws

There are five new traffic laws that will affect you coming this September 1st that you must be concerned about. It's part of the Province of Ontario's effort to bolster safe driving in the province. 

1. Distracted Driving: For distracted driving the current fine is $200, but as of September 1st, the fine will be a whopping $1000! Distracted driving in this instance refers to the following two things: 1) Operating hand-held communication and electronic devices while driving, and 2) Viewing display screens unrelated to your driving. Hand-held devices refer to the following: iPods, GPs and MP3 players, cell phones, smart phones, laptops, and DVD players. Imagine what kind of devices you can buy for the thousand bucks it'll cost you for simply gazing at your phone or GPS. 

2. Pedestrian Crossovers: Drivers will have to wait until pedestrians have fully crossed to the other side of the road  at pedestrian cross-overs and school crossings before proceeding at pedestrian cross-overs and school crossings. According to the Ministry of Transportation, about half of all pedestrian fatalities occur at pedestrian crossings. However, this change will not take effect until January. While it may seem annoying given the amount of time it could take for a pedestrian to cross the road, we'll all just have to remember that we're all human and deserving of arriving safely at all our destinations. 

3. Passing Cyclists: Drivers will have to give cyclists one metre of room when passing. And those who open their doors in front of cyclists without looking will face fines between $300 and $1000. I had a friend fly over someone's car door one morning while biking to UToronto--luckily he was fine. It's a really important law: cyclists are vulnerable, and even if they may be riding aggressively, it's important to remain patient and ensure they're safe.

4. Move-Over Law: All motorists must move to the next lane and slow down when passing an emergency vehicle with lights flashing--this includes tow trucks whose lights are flashing amber. Failure to do so will result in a $490 fine and a loss of 3 demerit points. 

5. Drugs & Alcohol: Those driving under the influence of drugs will face the same penalty as those under the influence of alcohol. Drugged driving is a grave issue, especially with the increase of psychiatric medication such as SSRIs that can render one sleepy or restless and even jittery. The penalty consists of a 3-90 day license suspension and a week-long vehicle impoundment. 45% of people killed in road accidents had drugs and/or alcohol in their system. 

We live in a very fast-paced society, driven largely by technological advancements with which we simply cannot keep up. And this feeling of being out-paced can be easily taken out on our driving: we lack patience, we speed, we surge, we are often distracted, and we often lack care for those around us who are not protected by the hard exterior shell of an automobile. The bottom line of all these changes is we must be more mindful and care-ful of all those around us when we're driving. It's not about the fines or the demerit points or impoundment, or some kind of narcissistic sense of entitlement--plain and simple, it's about human lives.