BC Highway Patrol officers were busy throughout the province in March, but specifically in the Central Okanagan.
Throughout the month, the policing unit held the annual Distracted Drivers and Occupant Restraint Campaign and out of the entire province, the Central/Okanagan region collected the most penalties.
In total, officers handed out 1,036 tickets for using an electronic device while driving as well as 300 seatbelt infractions.
This is how the rest of the province compared:
| Tickets for Electronic Device | Tickets for Seatbelt infraction | |
| Kootenay Region | 149 | 111 |
| Northern Region | 153 | 61 |
| South Coast/Lower Mainland Region | 603 | 145 (including 37 with children not secured properly) |
| Vancouver Island Region | 276 | 61 |
"Many of these distracted driving tickets were written for people using the highway system- not merely those stopped at intersections," said BC Highway Patrol Supt. Mike Coyle in a press release. "These numbers prove two things: One, we need to do better. Two, everyone in B.C. is paying the consequences of collisions that come from high-risk driving behaviours."
Highway Patrol reminds drivers that tickets for not wearing a seatbelt range from $109 (for a child who is improperly restrained) to $167 for an adult who fails to wear a seatbelt and a ticket for using an electronic device while driving carries a $368 fine.
