On January 1st, the five-year exemption permitting drivers handheld use of two-way radios in Ontario, Canada is set to expire.
Radio Amateurs of Canada has been waiting to hear from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation about the fate of the exemption from the provinces Distracted Driving Law.
RAC Directors Allan Boyd, V-E-3-A-J-B, and Phil McBride, V-A-3-Q-R, had met with Ontario Transportation officials earlier this year and declared the session productive but are still awaiting word of what will happen.
The RAC has formed a committee to work with both Ontario and British Columbia, both of which have distracted-driving regulations. In British Columbia, amateurs have been permitted since February of this year to drive while operating radios that have push-to-talk buttons.
According to the RACs website, there will be a decision on the Ontario regulations prior to the 1st of January and the RAC has pledged to issue a bulletin as soon as theres an update.
From text edition for DEC 17 2017 - VK NATIONAL NEWS BROADCAST ON VK1WIA : http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/wianews/
Also in MP3 edition of news available at: http://www.wia-files.com/podcast/wianews-2017-12-17.mp3