Proposed traffic law calls for cellphone ban

The Nova Scotia government introduced a sweeping road safety bill on Friday that would outlaw the use of hand-held cellphones while driving and allow police to use photo radar on a trial basis.

"We've seen too many tragedies, too many deaths, too many accidents involving serious injury," said Transportation Minister Murray Scott.

The cellphone ban is aimed at drivers who hold phones to their ears. Driverswould still bepermittedto talk on their cells if they use an earpiece or speaker phone.

The bill also proposes:

• Prohibiting panhandlers and solicitors from stopping or approaching vehicles on the road.
• Setting up cameras to catch drivers who run red lights
• Doubling the fines for drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks ($500 for a first offence, $1,000 for a second and $2,000 for a third).

Scott said items like the photo radar and red light cameras will give police crucial tools.

"The message we want to send as a government today is we're going to take every step possible to ensure police have the resources to do their job, that we provide them with additional equipment to do the job and that we want to make our streets as safe as we possibly can," he said.

The photo radar would only be used for an 18-month trial period.A decision would be made after that on whether touse it permanently.

The minority Tory government isnot saying when the new measures would come into force, nor the fines that violators would face.

It's that lack of detail that concerns Liberal justice critic Michel Samson, though he said his party supports banning cellphone use in moving vehicles.

"We've seen in past experience that this government has brought forward legislation only to see significant changes take place in the regulations,"he said.

He points to car insurance changes his party supported in law, only to havecabinet later further restrict claims in the regulations.

"That's not the way a well-functioning democracy should work," Samson said.

NDP Leader Darrell Dexter said his party will have to look at each proposal and decide "what's worth supporting and what isn't."

Newfoundland and Labrador is currently the only province with a cellphone ban for drivers. The Quebec government has signalled it plans to do the same.