This year, the day before the Labour Day weekend officially gets underway, marks six years to the day when Alberta's Distracted Driving laws came into effect.  

It was September 1st, 2011 that Alberta enacted one of the most comprehensive laws in the country that was designed to eliminate the use of hand held cell phones, texting or emailing, doing personal grooming while driving and performing other tasks that take your eyes off the road.

Unfortunately, RCMP Sgt. Darrin Turnbull says, even after six years, a lot of people haven't gotten the message and are still putting their own lives, as well as the lives of others,in jeopardy by driving while distracted.

It's just one of the things the RCMP and Alberta Traffic Sheriffs will be watching for over the Labour Day weekend.  

"We've seen everything from people reading a book, watching a movie on an Ipad or eating with two hands, holding a bowl of soup in one hand and a spoon in the other, while they're driving on the highway."  

And, as Turnbull points out, it isn't just the obvious things that could become distractions, particularly when traveling with your family.  "There are lots of things that can distract us from driving.  It could be something as simple as a dog jumping on your lap or noisy kids."

Many families are expected to take advantage of the great weather and take off for the holiday weekend.  Turnbull says part of the increased traffic on the roads will be the presence of RCMP and Sheriffs.

"We work together to ensure public safety on the roadways so we will have increased patrols and everybody that we can out working doing checkstops and trying to keep people safe."

The Police will also be keeping their eyes open for impaired drivers and speeders over the three day weekend.  Over the Labour Day weekend in 2016, 563 people were injured and three deaths occured on Alberta roads in RCMP jurisdictions.   

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