New legislation will come into effect on January 1, that will help improve road safety.
The amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act include:
- increasing fines for distracted driving;
- extending Move Over, Slow Down provisions to tow trucks, highway maintenance vehicles and private and public utility vehicles that have their flashing lights engaged;
- setting the maximum speed for Move Over, Slow Down to half the posted speed limit;
- doubling the fine to $280, and increasing the demerit points, to five, for drivers convicted of distracted driving;
- doubling the fines to $480 and the demerit points to six for drivers who pass a school bus while its flashing red lights are engaged;
- allowing prosecution of the registered owner or lessee of a vehicle for passing a stopped school bus unless that person can establish that someone else was operating the motor vehicle; and
- clarifying how suspensions related to drug-recognition evaluations will be imposed and allowing police officers to impose zero-tolerance provisions on novice drivers following a standard field sobriety test.
