The Ontario Provincial Police have released the results of their distracted driving campaign, which ran March 14 to 20.
The West Region Detachments, including Lambton OPP, issued 274 distracted driving, and 12 careless driving charges.
Within the entire province, there were 1,575 distracted driving charges and 43 careless driving charges laid. That's about 1,000 fewer charges provincially than last year.
West Region Sgt. Dave Rektor says a driver's focus should always be on the roadway.
"Primarily our focus is on texting and driving or people talking on the phone while driving but there are other distractions such as turning the dials on your radio or looking back at kids acting up a bit, just anything that takes your eyes off the road," says Rektor.
Rektor says two years ago distracted driving superceded impaired driving as the leading cause of death and injury on Ontario highways.
He says a distracted driving charge could result in a $500 fine and three demerit points.
