If you thought your morning commute was rough, spare a thought for a truck driver in Ontario who decided to attend a virtual work meeting while piloting a full-size tractor-trailer down a Canadian highway. No, this is not satire. No, we are not making this up.
On Sunday, March 29th, a Lambton Ontario Provincial Police officer pulled over a tractor-trailer on Highway 402 after noticing the driver doing something that had absolutely no business happening at highway speeds.
That something? Attending a Microsoft Teams video meeting, live, camera probably on, perhaps with a virtual background of a beach he definitely was not visiting.
When “I Can Do It From Anywhere” Goes Too Far
The driver was cited under Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act for having a display screen visible to the driver, which is the legal way of saying “put the laptop down, sir.” Lambton OPP wasted no time posting about the incident on Facebook, noting plainly that this was not multitasking. It was distracted driving. And while car enthusiasts love talking about horsepower, handling, and heel-toe downshifting, we are fairly confident that none of the great driving disciplines have ever included “quarterly sync while merging lanes.”
To be fair to the driver, anyone who has ever sat through a mandatory Teams meeting will understand the urge to escape. The problem is, physically escaping in a 40-ton commercial vehicle while still logged into the call is not the loophole anyone was looking for.
Lambton OPP made the arrest as part of the province’s ongoing Stay Focused campaign, which targets distracted driving through both education and enforcement. Their message was blunt: if you are driving, you are not available. That applies whether you are a commuter checking texts at a red light or, apparently, a truck driver keeping his camera on for the 9 a.m. standup.
The next time your boss schedules a meeting that could have been an email, just remember: at least your worst-case scenario is an awkward hour on Zoom, not a highway citation and a very uncomfortable conversation with your fleet manager.