‘Difficult to keep up’: Vancouver police issue 20 distracted driving tickets in 2 hours

A Vancouver police officer is shown enforcing distracted driving laws on Nov. 28, 2025.

Police in Vancouver issued hefty fines to 20 drivers caught using their cell phones during Friday’s rush hour.

The department’s traffic section, in a social media post, reported on the blitz at Granville Street and West 16th Avenue, saying it was “difficult to keep up with drivers on their phones.”

Each of the drivers was fined $368 for distracted driving, according to authorities who said, “FaceTime and videos were common.”

In a follow-up post, the Vancouver Police Department clarified that even people in Teslas using the “self-driving” feature” are not allowed to use their phones because they are required to be “actively engaged and prepared to intervene at any moment.

According to ICBC, distracted driving is “a factor” in 79 deaths and 5,197 injuries in the province each year and is a “contributing factor” to roughly one in three crashes that cause injuries.