VANCOUVER – Instead of just moving ahead with tougher fines for distracted drivers, Attorney General Suzanne Anton has delayed her decision yet again pending an online “consultation process.”

“Last year, distracted driving was more deadly than even impaired driving,” said Mike Farnworth, New Democrat spokesperson for public safety. “The attorney general knows that 88 people died on B.C.’s roads last year due to distracted driving. That’s a life lost about every four days. The attorney general has been promising action for more than a year, and now she’s wasting another month on this website gimmick.”

British Columbia has the second-cheapest distracted driving tickets in the country, at $167. Similar offences draw a $579 ticket in Nova Scotia and up to $1,000 in Ontario.

“There is no great mystery about how to change dangerous behaviours and improve road safety,” Farnworth said. “The attorney general could toughen up these tickets today, but instead British Columbians got a website and a hashtag.”