Distracted driving fines to rise in Saskatchewan

REGINA Penalties for distracted driving in Saskatchewan are about to get tougher.

Saskatchewan Government Insurance is reminding drivers that the fine for a first offence will more than double to $580 — plus four demerit points — starting Saturday.

A second offence within a year will result in a $1,400 ticket, four additional demerits and an immediate, seven-day vehicle seizure.

A third offence within 12 months will carry a $2,100 fine, four more demerits and another seven-day vehicle seizure.

The demerits will have implications for a driver’s insurance costs.

The increased penalties will coincide with a traffic safety campaign in February focused on distracted driving.

“Distracted driving is a serious safety concern in our province and on roads all over the country,” Joe Hargrave, minister responsible for SGI, said in a release Thursday.

“We hope by introducing tougher penalties — and especially strong penalties for repeat offenders — it will mean fewer people driving distracted and fewer tickets issued.”

SGI noted that driver distraction or inattention were factors in more than 6,000 collisions in 2018 that resulted in 774 injuries and 22 deaths.

Last year, distracted driving set three monthly records for the number of tickets issued.

However, overall fatalities on Saskatchewan’s roads are down.

The Crown insurer released preliminary numbers this week that showed 71 people were killed on the province’s roads in 2019 — the fewest deaths since records started being kept in the 1950s.

The province attributes the decrease to harsher penalties for impaired drivers and extreme speeders, photo speed enforcement and distracted driving laws.