Distracted Driving
The City of Whitehorse would like to remind residents and employees of the dangers of distracted driving, which includes eating and drinking, personal grooming, loud music, and cell phone use.
Driving and texting can increase the risk of collision by 23 times and talking on a hand-held or hands-free device can increase the risk of collision by up to 4 times. A distracted driver may can fail to see up to 50% of their driving environment and 80% of collisions are due to a form of distracted driving.
In the Yukon it is against the law to use hand-held electronic devices while driving. The penalties for such use includes a $500 fine, the loss of 3 demerit points, and drivers in the Graduated Driver Licensing program will lose all hours of earned driving experience.
If a City of Whitehorse employee is seen to be driving distracted, please report the occurrence using the form below. Distracted driving is defined as:
- Talking on a cell phone or texting
- Reading/adjusting the radio/CD and playing extremely loud music
- Eating/drinking/smoking/personal grooming
- Talking to passengers and/or pets in a manner that takes the driver’s focus away from the road
- Being fatigued
Please note certain emergency services are exempt from this legislation.
If you wish, you may fill out the form below and you will be contacted as appropriate.*