Archive for the 'Bill 118' Category

An article in The Lindsay Post quotes an acting Staff Sergeant with the City of Kawartha Lakes Police saying that amateur radio was not covered by the ban on hand-held devices as mandated by Ontario’s Bill 118.

Of course, the officer has misspoken however this may not be the first or last time we will be faced with this sort of misinformation.

Radio Amateurs of Canada is contacting the police service and would encourage amateurs in other communities who face similar erroneous understanding of Bill 118 or similar legislation in their province to immediate contact their local police service and offer a clarification.

Here’s a PDF of Bill 118  HTA- ON. Reg 366.09 with the amateur radio exemption clearly noted.

I stole this headline from Bruce, VE3QRP (aka: VE9QR) who wrote in a comment published recently on this blog the following:

“… what I want to see are news reports that highlight how hams are inventing new approaches to ensure that two-way mobile  communication is safe. The story we want to tell is, “we pioneered the technology that makes cellphones work, now we’re pioneering technology to make mobile communications safe.”

This is brilliant.

And it doesn’t preclude our continuing effort to educate governments (i.e. Ontario) that don’t exclude the use of two-way radios in moving vehicles in the error of their logic but it does allow us to take the higher ground.

If amateurs in the affected jurisdictions lobby their legislators for relief and gain the active support of national and provincial benefactors of amateur radio there may well come a time when we should go public with our story of community service which is long and admirable. And, in the meantime, we can show how we are contributing to roadway safety through our own technological expertise.

Look: I suspect some of the anger over legislation like Bill 118 comes as it is a slap in the face of those amateurs who have devoted countless hours (and cash to buy equipment) to serve their communities in times of need. And now we have the ban on hand-held devices as our thanks. It suggests to me a government that acted without clearly considering or even understanding either the history of our contribution or the future potential of our support. From a technical point of view, there is no clear evidence (this from the U.S. National Safety Council) that the use of amateur radio in anyway contributes to distracted driving.

For those hams who say well that’s it I’m taking my radio out of my car and I’m never helping anybody again. That’s really sad and we’ll miss you on the air and at our community events. It’s a bit like saying I’m taking my marbles and going home isn’t it? Why not join us in the work that lies ahead?

Consider this:

• Amateur radio has been around a lot longer than the governments that exist today
• We have faced similar legislation before (we were off the air during WWII) and recovered
• We have the ability to operate mobile safely with or without a microphone
• No one is saying we can’t talk and drive a moving vehicle
• And finally, and this is our ace in the hole, when all else fails, there’s amateur radio*

* Hundreds of thousands of dollars of grants have been awarded to amateur radio organizations to create radio networks capable of supporting government effort following state- or province-wide disasters where amateur radio was at the forefront of the life-saving efforts. It’s easy to forget the central role amateur radio plays in disasters around the world. And while we would never wish an ice storm or wide-spread tornadoes (which almost happened this summer in southern Ontario) on the people of Ontario or any other disaster when it comes down to it often it’s amateur radio that comes to the rescue.  Unfortunately politicians can have short memories and we’ve got our work cutout to remind them that amateur radio is a viable and vital community resource.

Seems the three-year exemption from Ontario’s Bill 118 granted amateurs holding a valid radio operator’s certificate only applies to Canadian amateurs. The government exemption applies to operators holding radio certificates issued under the Radiocommunications Act (Canada). This means foreign amateurs including hams from the U.S. are not exempt from immediate prosecution under Ontario’s distracted driving legislation.

Despite the assertions of some hams that amateur radio mobile operation in Ontario is exempt from provincial leglistation since we are federally licensed comes this information from a very recent meeting between Radio Amateurs of Canada officials and officials with Industry Canada. Seems even inspectors working for Industry Canada must comply with the provincial legislation because they too are subject to the Ontario Highway Traffic Act when they drive on public roads in Ontario.

While all amateur radio operators should support safer driving legislation such as Bill 118, we contend that the proper, responsible use of mobile amateur radio two-way radio transceivers does not contribute to distracted driving. And, we believe that given the support of amateur radio operators across Canada we can provide compelling data that supports our contention. And, further this initiative must come from those of us who truly care about amateur radio and safe mobile operation. It is not the responsibility of one ham who writes a blog …. It’s not the responsibility of Radio Amateurs of Canada which is merely (and I use this term not to minimize RAC’s effect but to bring attention to RAC’s limited resources) a small group of volunteers. It’s the responsibility of every single one of us who cares about amateur radio and our ability to provided communications services to our local communities and to freely enjoy our hobby.

Now is the time for those of you who do care about amateur radio to ban together. Amateur radio has long been referred to by some as the secret brotherhood (and increasingly over the years a sisterhood as well). We are everywhere but to the public we remain largely unknown. Our achievements and sometimes moments of heroic service have gone unacknowledged. We have remained modest and quiet for too long.

We have a compelling story to tell. We need to begin to tell it to all who will listen. Who will join us in this campaign for change?

Within the next few days police in Ontario will begin to pull over drivers they see texting or talking on cellular telephones. It is entirely likely that some amateur radio operators, who are legally exempt from Bill 118, will be stopped if they are seen to be operating their mobile radio equipment.

In order to prevent any unnecessary delay, amateurs in Ontario should consider carrying a copy of their Certificate of Proficiency plus a copy of the exemptions section of Bill 118. (Here’s a link.)

While such stops maybe annoying, the ability to produce these documents quickly would likely prove helpful.

If you are stopped by police for operating your two-way radio equipment RAC would very much like to hear from you. We will be keeping a record of any such stops for possible future use in our ongoing talks with government officials.

Any information can be forwarded to ve3hg@rac.ca