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REVIEW wednesday, October 10, 2012
24 PAGEs
Violent crime drops but not business break-ins by Martin van den Hemel Staff Reporter
Martin van den Hemel photos Finding people driving while distracted did not prove difficult during a recent visit to No. 3 Road and Westminster Highway.
Drivers openly flouting cell-phone laws RCMP, ICBC want attitude change by Martin van den Hemel Staff Reporter Distracted driving was the focus of a crackdown last week by Richmond Mounties in a partnership with the Insurance Corporation of B.C. dubbed Project Swoop. But The Richmond Review at-
tempted to gauge the prevalence of distracted driving during 90 minutes of quiet observation one weekday afternoon recently at No. 3 Road and Westminster Highway. Finding people driving while distracted did not prove difficult. While it was mostly cellular phones that were a problem, many who pulled up to a red light at the intersection could be seen fiddling with maps or books. One woman was checking what appeared to be her lengthy gro-
cery shopping receipt. The male driver of a new Hyundai Tuscon SUV gets mixed reviews for wearing a bluetooth earpiece, but a big thumbs down for fiddling with his phone while pulling up to the red light. And while The Review couldn’t capture photographic evidence of the driver of a dark blue BMW SUV fiddling with the backlit screen of her phone or music player as she ran a yellow light, many others were caught red-handed. Many tried to hide their behav-
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iour, holding their phones below shoulder-level, near the bottom of their vehicle’s steering wheel and nearly out of view for passersby. Others were chatting in plain view, talking via speaker phone into the base of their iPhones, while the driver of a black BMW 740i was kind enough to roll down his passenger side window as The Review photographed him with his cell phone, earphones trailing from his ears to his iPhone. See Page 3
Violent crime overall is down in 2012 compared to a year earlier, according to the latest figures from the Richmond RCMP. In a report to be presented Wednesday afternoon to Richmond city council’s community safety committee, the statistics indicate that assaults and sexual offences were both down, contributing to a 15.5-per-cent drop in violent crime through the end of August, 2012. While assaults were down 12.6 per cent, and assault-with-a-weapon incidents fell 17 per cent, and sexual offences dropped 13.5 per cent, the notable exception was robberies, which rose 12.2 per cent. Property-related crime has also been down this year, falling 5.8 per cent, including a 22.8 per cent drop in motor vehicle thefts, and a 35.7 per cent reduction in metal theft. But business break-ins were up 15 per cent, as was theft, up 7.4 per cent. Arson-related fires were down 38.6 per cent, as were drug-related files, falling 17.5 per cent. In an effort to address business break-ins, the RCMP’s new Volunteer Business Watch program was launched in July at the new City Centre Community Police Station. The program involves volunteers going door-to-door to businesses, delivering crime-prevention information packages including a business watch newsletter and brochure. Volunteers offer to install a height strip at the business, and collect e-mail information for including in the new Commercial Break and Enter e-mail alert distribution program, which indicates whenever a break-in occurs in their neighbourhood.
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