And One Time, At Band Camp: Motorist charged for playing flute while driving

Article content

Here’s a sentence your author doesn’t hammer into the keyboard of his laptop computer every day: a motorist in the Burlington, Ontario area has been charged with playing a flute while driving.

Via their Twitter account, Halton Regional Police Service said they found the flautist flouting traffic laws while conducting checks for distracted driving. Allegedly, the driver wasn’t simply playing the flute with both hands while behind the wheel but also attempting to follow sheet music being displayed on an iPad.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

And One Time, At Band Camp: Motorist charged for playing flute while driving Back to video

Article content

In what is surely one of the only uses of the hashtag #FlutesAndDrivingDontMix, the attending officer said the driver — whom we will call a whistleblower because that pun is too good to pass up — was charged, presumably roadside during the stop under the appropriate driving laws. In Ontario, the first conviction under distracted driving, for example, slaps a person with a $615 fine, a sum which is jacked to $1,000 if they take the ticket to court and lose the case.

The in-court fine doubles and triples for second and third convictions, respectively, combined with up to a half-dozen demerit points and a 30-day suspension. Novice drivers in Ontario, defined as anyone holding a G1/G2 or M1/M2 license, face longer suspensions instead of demerit points, presumably in an effort to reinforce good driving habits right out of the gate. A third conviction under this law results in a licence cancellation and boots a driver out of the Graduated Licensing Program. In order to get regain driving privileges, they’ll have to start again at square one.

Other provinces has similar initiatives aimed at curbing the scourge of distracted driving. There’s a good chance none of them specifically say anything about flutes, though. But don’t think just because a specific instrument isn’t explicitly named in the legislation that this driver will tootle their way out of trouble. In Ontario, while other actions such as eating and drinking (plus grooming, smoking, reading and reaching for object) might not be part of Ontario’s distracted driving law, motorists can still be charged with careless or dangerous driving.