Joey
(Q): How can islanders decrease the amount of yearly vehicle
accidents?
Sgt.
Butler (A): Here on PEI we have four main problems that we
concentrate on and those problems usually contribute to most of the
collisions that we have. We like to call them collisions instead
of accidents because quite often an accident is something that just
happens but with a collision
usually there is something behind it, someone is speeding (also
called aggressive driving), not
wearing seat-belts, using a hand-held device (also called a cell
phone) and our biggest
problem on PEI is impaired driving or driving while drinking.
Joni
(Q): Is there a right or a wrong way to wear your seat-belt?
Sgt.
Butler (A ): That is an excellent question because, yes, there is a
proper way to wear your seat-belt and some people like to wear it the
improper way. To wear your seat-belt (and we can still give a ticket
for only having it half on) the proper way, if it's the belts that we
call the 'two system' they go around your waste and over your
shoulder. It must be over your shoulder and buckled in. You can't put
it behind your arm because that is an improper way to wear it and
it's unsafe for the wearer. So people need to remember that we can
fine somebody if they are wearing it the wrong way.
Joey
(Q): What is the most common excuse given by drivers for texting
while driving?
Sgt.
Butler (A): We don't like to see any excuses because here on PEI it's
a very serious problem.
A lot of people are using hand-held devices to text or read their
E-mail. We don't give warnings for that. We only give tickets. I
think that a lot of people do it because its such a habit to have
your phone in your hand all the time and also people are always
in a hurry. If they want to use their phone they have to pull over to
the side of the road and completely stop before using your phone.
Joni
(Q): How many (approximately) are fined yearly on PEI yearly for
texting?
Sgt.
Butler (A): I don't have the numbers with me but it is an increasing
problem. We have seen over the
last number of years that people are 'texting and driving' more and more.
We don't give any warnings. We must give a ticket and the ticket is
very expensive. We have the highest fine anywhere in Canada. It's
$500.00 dollars for texting or using your phone plus an additional
$75.00 which is on every ticket,so, its $575.00 fine.
Joey
(Q): How many (approximately) are fined yearly on P E I for not
wearing their Seat belts
Sgt.
Butler (A): I was very surprised in the last number of years to see
how many people are not wearing their seat-belts. This year on PEI we
have had 19 fatalities and I can tell you that in at least 6, if not
7 of those fatalities, not wearing seat-belts was an contributing
factor. That's still a high number
of people that don't wear them.
Joni
(Q): Can you be fined for texting while driving your bicycle?
Sgt.
Butler (A): That's a good question. If you are on a peddle bike,no,
but any motorized Vehicle you can't use your hand-held device. That
would include tractors that may go on the road. Any vehicle
that is motorized and on a roadway on PEI can be fined.
Joey
(Q): How are you folks raising awareness regarding texting and
seat-belt use?
Sgt.
Butler (A): We do a lot of Media interviews just like this so that
people who put out articles help
us educate others. There is signage on the roads coming onto the
island that tell
people that they are going to be fined if they don't wear their
seat-belts and we try to
include it in the various reports that we do. If there is a collision
and they didn't have their
seat-belts on, we tell the people. So we try to educate with Media
Releases and we also have Twitter and Facebook accounts.
