Ontario's government is boosting the fine for motorists who are caught driving while distracted by a cellphone, MP3 player or other electronic devices.
Including surcharges, the current fine for distracted driving is $155 but it will jump to $280 on March 18.
Drivers who receive a summons or who contest their ticket by going to court may face a fine of up to $500.
This is the first time the fine amount has increased since the ban on handheld devices came into effect in October 2009.
There are no demerits points and police do not confiscate handheld devices.
Last fall, provincial Transportation Minister Glen Murray told CTV News he supports legislation that would add demerit points as a penalty because the fine alone isn't discouraging distracted driving.
Toronto police Const. Clint Stibbe, a traffic services officer, has been a victim of distracted driving.
His car was struck by a vehicle driven by a distracted motorist, and he said police are seeing a lack of compliance.
He likened the situation to when mandatory seatbelt laws were introduced decades ago. Many people didn't comply with the law until demerit points were added as a penalty, and the same thing could happen with distracted driving, Stibbe said.
Over the last two years, there have been three fatal crashes in Toronto that police have been able to directly attribute to cellphone use, Stibbe told CP24 reporter Cam Woolley.
A driver using a cellphone is four times more likely to be in a crash than a driver focused on the road, the province says.
The law makes it illegal for people to hold a cellphone or other devices while driving, but drivers are allowed to use a handheld device to call 911 in an emergency or if they are lawfully parked.
Hands-free devices such as a cellphone with a Bluetooth device are permitted.
Drivers are also banned from manually programming GPS devices or watching display screens unrelated to the driving task, including laptops or DVD players.
