Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to lend my comments to my colleagues that have spoken in favour of Bill 16. I am very

supportive of the amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act going forward through Bill 16 that would address texting and cell phone use in vehicles. I think it’s a big issue out there for public safety, and as technology improves, these phones are used for much more than just phoning and texting. You know, you can get on the Internet, those smartphones and things like that, and driving around, I mean, you can see it, and oftentimes I find myself having to pull over on the side of the road and try to finish texting or phoning somebody.

If there are some penalties out there for doing that type of behaviour, I think it’s going to be a good deterrent and something that should be addressed, because we’ve got a lot of children out on the streets walking around and all it takes is a second for an accident to happen. You look down and try to press a key on your phone and the next thing you know there’s a little kid on a bike running out in front of you or a car coming and you’re outside of your lane or something.

I think this is a step in the right direction. Long overdue. The rest of the country’s been moving forward with this. I know we’ve been talking about this for awhile so I’m glad to see it here. I’m fully supportive of it and I wanted to thank the Minister and his staff for the work that they’ve put into these amendments. Also, I know some of my colleagues spoke of SADD and their involvement in this, as well, and I think that’s to be commended as well. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.