While sneezing behind the wheel doesn’t count as distracted driving anywhere in Canada, it’s still nothing to sneeze at.
If a sneezing fit causes you to lose control of your car, you could face charges for careless driving, a Vancouver lawyer said.
“Sneezing [while] driving is not explicitly distracted driving,” said Kyla Lee, a Vancouver-based criminal defence lawyer. “I think it’s probably pretty difficult for the government to prohibit people from sneezing while driving because it’s an uncontrollable biological function that happens to everyone.”
In most provinces, including British Columbia, distracted driving laws ban holding or touching a hand-held electronic device. Most of those laws don’t cover other kinds of distractions, such as eating, drinking, smoking, reading, grooming or reaching for objects.
But, every province has laws against careless driving that require “you to be driving with due care and attention, and reasonable consideration for other road users,” Lee said.
In B.C., for instance, a charge for driving without due care and attention carries a fine of $368 and six demerit points, said RCMP Constable Mike Moore, a spokesman for B.C. Highway Patrol.