Strathcona County first in Alberta to ban cellphone use while driving

Strathcona County is the first municipality in Alberta to ban the use of hand-held cellphones while driving, with a new bylaw that goes into effect in September.

In a 7-2 vote Tuesday evening, the council of the county east of Edmonton voted to ban the use of the phones while driving on municipal streets and roads. Hands-free phones will still be allowed.

People caught talking on their phones will be fined $100 for a first offence.

The bylaw will not apply to provincial highways.

The motion was sponsored by Coun. Alan Dunn, who had been pushing for a ban since the last municipal election, in the fall of 2007.

"When I was campaigning the last time around, I had a constituent who'd just been injured in a car accident caused by a cellular telephone and she tore a strip off me and suggested we should do something about it in this community," he said. "So that was one of the things I put on my list of things to do when I became elected."

RCMP Insp. Gary Steinke said he is pleased with the ban.

"I don't think you need to be an officer to know that you're going to be distracted if you're on the cellphone," he said. "I think any time you see somebody on the cellphone, and you happen to drive by them … whether you are a police officer or not … you're probably looking at that person and giving them a second look and wondering if he even sees you or even knows that you're around."

Coun. Dunn also wanted hands-free cellphone use to be covered by the ban, but Steinke said that would be difficult for police to enforce. That view was shared by other councillors who voted to allow hands-free phone use to continue.

Last year, Alberta MLAs referred a private member's bill calling for a provincial ban on cellphone use while driving to a committee for more study.

Four Canadian provinces ban the use of cellphones while driving: Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, and Ontario, where new legislation is set to take effect this fall.