By paNOW

Company owner calls for re-write of Sask. distracted driving law

Aug 28, 2014 | 1:55 AM

A vehicle seizure in Saskatoon is highlighting stiff new traffic laws.

On Aug. 21, K3 Excavating owner Kevin Boychuk received an unexpected call from one of his employees.

“He told me city police pulled him over for talking on his cellphone and they were towing the truck to the impound lot,” he said.

Under new traffic laws introduced on June 27, a first offence for distracted driving is a $280 ticket. Those caught driving distracted twice in less than a year are subject to having their vehicle impounded for seven days.

Boychuk argues that his employee was driving a company vehicle and when police impounded the company truck, they were essentially punishing the business, not the driver.

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“When we we’re not the offenders, we’ve done everything we can to make our employees aware of the policy and we’ve done nothing wrong as a company — my driver is a big boy, he’s got a registered vehicle, so take his vehicle don’t punish my company,” Boychuk said.

Earl Cameron is the vice-president of SGI’s auto fund — the branch looking after vehicle insurance – he said the way the law is written, police seize the vehicle the offender is driving, no matter who it belongs to.

“Whether you own it or someone else owns it, the vehicle you’re driving will be seized for seven days,” Cameron said, adding the idea of the law is separating the risk (the driver) from the vehicle, the same as police would react to impaired drivers.

Boychuk said he lost thousands of dollars the day the truck was seized and he’s been forced to play catch-up ever since.

“On that day alone my rough estimate is that we lost $2,500 in revenue. We had to shut a work site down because of it,” Boychuk said. “We’ve had to go to extended hours because of it; because we’re not getting the material … it’s getting us backed up as well.”

Cameron said the new laws are stiff because of a growing number of fatalities and collisions as a result of distracted driving.

“In 2013 there were 31 deaths and nearly 2,000 injuries where distracted driving was a contributing factor,” Cameron said, adding lawmakers have been challenged in deterring drivers from using cellphones while on the road.

The province of Ontario is currently mulling the idea of increasing the fines for first offences for distracted driving to $1,000.

“You know you shouldn’t drive and text on your cellphone, but you choose to do so,” Cameron said, adding an easy remedy to avoid punishment is a hands-free headset.

Boychuk said the Saskatchewan Party should revisit the distracted driving laws and make changes, just like they did with the SaskPower smart meter debacle.

“When the meters were burning houses down — the government did something and everyone apologized. This affects everybody who has a business. People don’t understand the ramifications of this until it happens to them,” Boychuk said. “I’m a customer and a taxpayer and a voter — these guys need to wake up. It’s bad legislation, it needs to be changed.”

Boychuk expects to pick up his company truck Thursday morning.

news@panow.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow