When it comes to charging you for distracted driving in Canada, it’s the officer’s call.
Police don’t need cellphone records; they only need to prove that they saw you holding or watching your phone, a criminal defence lawyer said.
“The officer’s visual observation of a person using their phone is considered to be sufficient evidence. They don’t need [phone] data,” said Kyla Lee, a Vancouver-based criminal defence lawyer. “The logic is that cellphones are so ubiquitous, that it’s unlikely an officer would be mistaken about what they saw.”
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What information can police get from your cellphone provider? Typically, they can get records of text messages and calls, Lee said.
“In very unusual circumstances, they could get carrier data for 5G/LTE traffic but that might not prove much because apps can be doing things in the background without being manipulated,” Lee said.