Okotoks Municipal Enforcement's been out and about lately looking for distracted drivers.

Officers are hoping to spread the word on the dangers of being distracted when driving as it could lead to fatal incidents for both motorists and pedestrians.

Okotoks Municipal Enforcement Manager, Kelly Steinwand, says it's discouraging how many people drive distracted.

"When you stop them a lot of people will say 'I was just changing my music' or 'I was just checking something quickly while I was in the intersection'," he explains. "But it's interesting to see how you'll pull up right beside them and they're not even aware sometimes of a marked vehicle right beside them which is an indication when you're looking down you start losing awareness of the things that are occurring around you."

Steinwand says there's no specific demographic for distracted driving.

"We noticed that there's no real pattern to who's actually continuing to drive distracted with devices, we're seeing adults, students, business people."

He says one positive they're seeing is while there were many who were distracted while driving, there was also a number of people who had both hands on the wheel and were paying full attention to the road.

It's recommended drivers hook their phones up to their vehicles via bluetooth or simply put them away where they're out of sight.

 

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