PARRY SOUND - This week the OPP launches the road safety campaign. Officers will be out in full force looking for distracted drivers.
Drivers are prohibited from using hand-held wireless communication devices or entertainment devices, including texting, emailing and voice use, while operating a motor vehicle.  This applies to all employees while on company business and/or company time and applies even if you are stopped at a red light or in traffic.  Hand-held devices include, but are not limited to cell phones, Blackberry devices, iPods, other MP3 players, DVD players, GPS and other navigational or entertainment devices.
In order to perform work “on the road” employees must cease operating a moving vehicle unless the employee uses technology that permits virtually complete hands-free operation.  
Specifically: Use of a hands-free device (earpiece, headset or factory installed voice-activated system) is permitted when a vehicle is in motion if the operation can be initiated by pressing a single button to make, answer or end a call.   In this scenario the unit does not have to be mounted.
Use of a fixed, non-hands free device (phone, Blackberry without earpiece but with speakerphone functionality, GPS) is permitted when a vehicle is in motion if the operation can be initiated by pressing a single button to make, answer or end a call.  In this scenario, the unit must be mounted or otherwise placed securely in the vehicle in a way that the driver can see it at a quick glance and easily reach it without adjusting his/her driving position.
If a driver cannot activate the hands-free device or the non-hands-free unit by touching one button only to make, answer, end a call or perform any other function, then the car must be off the roadway or lawfully parked; not in motion; and not impeding traffic while operating the hands-free unit.