MONTREAL - In spite of fines and warnings, one in four Quebec drivers has developed a potentially-killer habit: they're texting while behind the wheel.

Surete du Quebec officers like Gail Green say identifying people using their cell phones to send messages is a little trickier than spotting people with a phone glued to their ear, but it's still an extraordinarily common sight.

"It's very, very hard to tell, especially when you're far away," said Green. "People are glancing down but you don't really know for what."

Since legislation banning in-car cell phone use unless using a hands-free device, Green says there has been a noticeable transition from talking to texting.

CTV Montreal reporter Paul Karwatsky followed Green for part of her patrol one day, and it was only minutes before she and a partner nabbed three people using their phones to send text messages. The penalty in each case was identical.

"It's the same as if you were using the phone: $80, the charges and three [demerit] points," said Green.


Crash put her in a coma, but still caught texting at the wheel

Ticketed for texting, an apologetic Line Blanchette shared her shocking story.

Years ago, she was a passenger involved in a deadly collision.

"A motorcycle accident," said Blanchette. "She died instantly, and I was brought to the hospital, almost died there and was one month in a coma and then was two and a half years in rehab."

Blanchette and her friend had both been drinking, although an autopsy was never performed to determine if Blanchette's friend was drunk.

"I don't know what happened, she lost control or what, and she passed away," said Blanchette.

Police say people using phones, either to talk or text, are as dangerous as drunk drivers.

A driver going highway speeds who takes his or her eyes off the road for four seconds is driving blind for the length of a football field.


Texting can be addictive

Linda Kalman is a clinical social worker who believes she knows why people who admit the dangers find it hard to stop.

"When we're texting we're getting immediate gratification," said Kalman. "If you're constantly in a state of waiting for that response it creates the same kind of hormonal release that any high-risk behaviour does, and that becomes addictive. That surge of adrenalin is addictive."

Hands-free devices, while they may not be any safer, are legal. It's possible to buy add-ons that will read text messages out loud, or translate the spoken word into a text message.

But according to Scott Phelan, owner of La Boutique Electronique, drivers are not exactly lining up to buy the devices or apps.

"We pitch 100 percent of the people who buy cellphones with us, whether it's a new activation or an upgrade on getting a hands-free device for their own safety, and really the take rate is 15 percent," said Phelan.

For Phelan it's aggravating not only because sales are slow, but because his son almost died in an accident this past summer. Jon Phelan was watching his phone instead of the road.

"When I looked up, I had about ten metres of space going a hundred kilometres an hour to make a decision, so I swerved to the right.," said Jon Phelan.

"The hood of my car looked like a triangle after that. The passenger side was compressed into a couple of inches from my knees. I was lucky to get away with bruises and scrapes."

He doesn't own a car anymore, and borrows one to visit his family on weekends.

"Jonathan was a very lucky young man that day and we were lucky as a family. Hopefully with all this going on right now someone will listen and they won't text," said Paula-Kelly Phelan.


Data for Quebec just starting to be collected

Police are just starting to log texting as a potential cause of crashes in Quebec.

According to the coroner's office, texting has been confirmed as the cause of three fatal accidents since 2005 -- two of those crashes in 2010.

In the United States 16,000 people were killed as a result of texting and driving between 2001 and 2007.

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety's annual Traffic Safety survey shows that while 95 percent of drivers think texting and driving is dangerous, a full 35 percent admit to indulging in the dangerous behaviour.

That survey also shows that 88 percent of people revealing that talking on a cell phone is dangerous, but two-thirds of drivers still do it.