First, it was a man driving through a Tim Horton’s early in the morning to get his daily coffee in Beaumont, Alberta when he was stopped and ticketed by police for texting while driving.
Now, Eric Sanders of Cornwall, PEI, reports he too was ticketed for the same offence, however, it was while sitting in his car. Parked in the driveway. With the engine off.
“This is utterly bogus, man. Just ridiculous. I mean the bloody engine was off!! The RCMP cop just walked up to my window, like what happened to the guy in Alberta, and tapped. When I rolled it down, he told me I was not allowed to be texting while driving.”
“I told him the car engine was off, and showed him my keys still on the front seat, but he didn’t care. He just wrote up the ticket anyway.”
The P.E.I. law states that no one may use hand-held communication devices while driving, but does permit a driver to text or call when they are pulled over to the side of the road, especially with the engine off.
“Am I going to take this to court? Of course, I am. Just like the Alberta guy, I will admit that I was texting…but with the engine OFF…in my driveway. Must be a quota or something for these cops. Why don’t they go after the real criminals for a change? Maybe I should have offered to buy him a coffee and donut at Tim’s in exchange for the ticket.”