August STEP and BEEP Initiatives

August STEP and BEEP Initiatives

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Category: Public Safety

 

SELECTED TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM (STEP) - New Drivers / Distracted Driving

For the month of August, City Enforcement Services reminds all drivers to be alert and avoid distractions while on the road, especially new drivers.

The penalty for distracted driving is a $287 fine and three demerit points. Section 155 of the Traffic Safety Act, the distracted driving law, says all drivers are restricted from:

  • using hand-held cell phones
  • texting or e-mailing (even when stopped at red lights)
  • using electronic devices like laptop computers, video games, cameras, video entertainment displays and programming portable audio players (e.g., MP3 players),
  • entering information on GPS units
  • reading printed materials in the vehicle
  • writing, printing or sketching
  • personal grooming such as brushing and flossing teeth, applying makeup, curling hair, clipping nails, or shaving

From September 2011 to Marcy 2019, 97 per cent of distracted driving convictions were for using a hand-held electronic device. In total there have been 186,564 convictions since legislation was introduced on September 1, 2011. In total, 23,439 convictions for distracted driving occurred in Alberta from April 2018 to March 2019.

According to the Office of Traffic Safety in Alberta Transportation:

  • One in five new drivers is involved in a collision during their first two years of driving.
  • 211 young drivers and motorcyclists, aged 14-24, were killed and 12,079 were injured in collisions from 2013 to 2017.
  • In 2017, 18 per cent of Alberta’s casualty collisions involved vehicles driven by young drivers, even though only 13 per cent of registered drivers make up this group.
  • From 2013 to 2017, more than two in five young drivers killed in a collision were not wearing their seatbelt.

BYLAW ENFORCEMENT EDUCATION PROGRAM (BEEP) - Residential / Unlawful Parking

In August, officers from the City of Grande Prairie Enforcement Services are focusing on unlawful parking in residential areas. The fine for most parking offences is $68.

Some of the common parking offences that are observed in Grande Prairie include parking:

  • within 5 metres of a crosswalk or intersection
  • in an area signed as ‘no parking’ or ‘no stopping’
  • in a disabled space
  • on the wrong side of the street (on a two way street)

Enforcement Services has found that many motorists misunderstand the difference between ‘no parking’ and ‘no stopping’ zones. 

In a ‘no parking’ zone, a motorist is allowed to stop in order for passengers to enter or leave a vehicle. In this case the vehicle cannot be abandoned by the driver, even for a short time period. 

In a ‘no stopping’ zone a vehicle is not allowed to stop at all.  If an officer witnesses a vehicle stop for passengers a citation will be issued. The downtown core is an example of an area with a lot of ‘no stopping’ zones, most of which are reserved for transit bus traffic.