B.C. judge tosses out distracted driving ticket, rules charging phone is not using it

A provincial court judge has ruleda Vancouver Island woman who was ticketed for distracted drivingwas not violating the law.

Meghan Sarah Wesley Wylie was issued a ticket in Esquimalt, B.C., in December2018 after a police officer spotted her at a red light with her cellphone sitting on her lap and plugged in to charge.

The officer argued Wylie was guilty under the Motor Vehicle Actbecause the act states that operating a function of a device is an offence and the officer considered charging to be afunction of the phone.

The officer also argued that by having the phone on her lap, Wylie was guilty of holding it.

But Justice Hunter Gordondid not agree with the officer on either point, taking issue withthe terms "function" and "holding" and how the officer interpreted them.

In theruling, Gordonsaid plugging in a deviceto charge a battery is not "the ordinary and grammatical meaning of the operation of a function."She noted the screen on Wylie's phone was not illuminated and there was no evidence it was turned on when she was ticketed.

Gordon also pointed out the Cambridge English Dictionary definition of "hold" means to take and keep something in your hands.

Wylie was acquitted of the charges and Gordon concluded that"the law on the meaning of use is still not settled."