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A recent distracted driving case has prompted a major reminder that you can be fined for wearing earphones while you’re driving. The Canadian Police can issue a dristracted driving fine $1500 who wear headphones while driving.

Today on February 6th, a Canadian driver was found guilty of distracted driving by the court and he now has to pay a hefty fine. Why? It’s all because he wore headphones while he was driving, even though they were attached to a phone that was dead.





Patrick Henry Grezlak had his phone away from him in the cubby hole of his car as he drove. It was also completely out of battery, meaning he wasn’t listening to music, but he did have headphones in both of his ears.

“The screen was not illuminated, no music, no conversation or anything else was coming through the earbuds,” reads the court documents.

Judicial Justice Brent Adair found the driver guilty of distracted driving. This means he now has to pay several thousand dollars for the fine. Justice Adair’s reasons for judgment were explained in the documents.





“Obviously, here the cell phone itself was sitting in the centre cubby hole, and was not in the defendants hands, or in his lap. But that is not the end of the matter,” he explained.

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“In my view, by plugging the earbud wire into the iPhone, the defendant had enlarged the device, such that it included not only the iPhone (proper) but also attached speaker or earbuds”.

Police said in a tweet that from February 20th to drive with headphones in ears, the fine for this distracted driving stint will be $1500 and four points.

The law applies in these Canadian provinces, Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and New Brunswick drivers.Several other actions can count as distracted driving under the law in various provinces as well, such as eating or drinking while driving.

According to the Canada Police on their Website , the following actions could also be deemed distracted driving under the law and could result in a fine:

“talking and using a mobile device

texting

reading (e.g. books, maps)

programming a GPS

watching videos

eating or drinking

smoking or vaping

grooming

adjusting the radio

listening to extremely loud music

talking to passengers”

Drivers could now face a fine up to $1500 for their first distracted driving offence.