TEXT ... not!

A Vancouver Island woman says she is going to fight a distracted driving ticket she was issued for changing the song on her cellphone.

Brittney Taylor says an officer pulled her over near Shelbourne Street and McKenzie Avenue on New Year's Eve after she touched her phone that was secured in a phone mount. The officer complimented her for having a clean driving record, then issued a distracted driving ticket.

In a statement, Saanich Police say drivers are only allowed to touch their mounted phone once to answer or end a phone call.

Taylor is hopeful her ticket will be waived, not because of rules she believes are unclear, but because the police officer didn't properly issue the ticket. The ticket was issued as an offence by a new driver, although Taylor has had her full licence for six years and has no conditions on the licence.

Were we distracted when:

1. in the olden days when we were reaching for that ashtray, or after having lite a cigarette and we are now at 100Km trying to negotiate reinserting the lighter into it's receptical.

2. or when before the advent of all our new electronic toys (distractions) when we were reaching half way across the dash to change the station on the radio (with that knob that needed to be turned with our eyes trained on the device to find our next chosen station) or again in the olden days, we were changing the track on our 8 track player (google it) or having to flip the cassette in the player to hear the rest of the album.

3. or when pulling out of any fast food drive thru when we are with a hot coffee held firmly in our crotch attempting to merge into traffic stuffing our pie-hole while attempting to squeeze ketchup onto our french fries.

4. or when racing to an appontment that we are 15 minutes late for and we have the rear view mirror cranked in a direction that allows us to check our eyeliner or apply lipstick.

OOOOPS ...

Are we any LESS distracted now when:

we are using one of these. Pressumingly LEGAL given that they are now optional by most vehicle manufacturers today and standard equipment in some. And sold by many outlets as an after market add-on.

Distracted driving - ICBC

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