Bill 171 explained in plain English
Phones Down, Heads Up Act, 2017
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
The Phones Down, Heads Up Act, 2017, prohibits pedestrians from using certain mobile devices while crossing a roadway, with exceptions for emergencies, and requires an annual distracted driving awareness campaign, with an option for municipalities to opt out.
This bill amends the Highway Traffic Act to prevent pedestrians from using certain electronic devices while crossing a road. It outlines exceptions for emergencies and ongoing phone calls. Municipalities can choose to opt out of this rule. The bill also requires the Ministry of Transportation to run an annual awareness campaign about distracted driving. The Act is to be known as the Phones Down, Heads Up Act, 2017.
- Prohibits pedestrians from holding and using certain electronic devices while crossing a roadway, with exceptions for contacting emergency services or continuing a call started before crossing.
- Establishes penalties for contravening this prohibition, including fines for first, second, and subsequent offences.
- Requires the Ministry of Transportation to conduct an annual awareness campaign about the dangers of distracted driving.
- Allows municipal councils to pass by-laws to opt out of the prohibition on pedestrians using devices while crossing a roadway.
- Sets the commencement date for the Act as three months after it receives Royal Assent.
- Pedestrians
- Drivers
- Municipal councils
- Ministry of Transportation
- Law enforcement officers
- Pedestrians have the right to use certain devices to contact emergency services or continue a phone call started before crossing.
- Pedestrians have an obligation not to use specified devices while crossing a roadway, subject to exceptions.
- The Ministry of Transportation has an obligation to conduct an annual awareness campaign on distracted driving.
- Municipal councils have the right to pass by-laws to opt out of the pedestrian device use prohibition.
- The Act comes into force three months after the day it receives Royal Assent (Section 4).
- Fines for pedestrians contravening the prohibition are $50 for a first offence, $75 for a second offence, and $125 for each subsequent offence (Section 2(1)).
- Contravention of the prohibition on using devices while crossing a roadway is an offence.
- Penalties include a fine of $50 for a first offence, $75 for a second offence, and $125 for subsequent offences (Section 2(1)).
- The specific 'other prescribed device' that pedestrians shall not hold and use while crossing a roadway is not defined in the provided text and would be determined by regulation (Section 2(2)).
- The exact nature and content of the annual awareness campaign are not detailed in the bill text.
Adds a new section prohibiting pedestrians from using certain devices while crossing a roadway and introduces penalties for this offence. It also amends another section to allow for devices to be prescribed that pedestrians shall not use while crossing a roadway.
Source: Section 2(1) and Section 2(2)
Adds section 1.3 requiring the Ministry to conduct an annual awareness campaign on distracted driving.
Source: Section 1
Adds section 144.1, which allows municipal councils to opt out of the new pedestrian device use prohibition by by-law.
Source: Section 3
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced