Alcohol-related road deaths up

The stats are in and they are not good.

On Monday, SGI released its annual report on collisions in Saskatchewan for 2014. Among the numbers is 17, which is how many more people were killed in alcohol-related collisions than in 2013.

Drunk driving remains the number one killer on Saskatchewan roads.

In total, 59 people lost their lives in crashes in which alcohol was a factor. The provincial insurer reported that total alcohol-related collisions were down, but deaths were up. Overall, the report notes that while  alcohol-related deaths vary from year to year the trend line has  remained pretty steady since 1995.

In addition, 536 people were injured in alcohol-related collisions. That number is down from 590  in 2013. Unlike deaths, injuries have shown a significant downward trend over the past two decades, likely due to improved safety features in vehicles.

In 2014, the Province instituted tougher new penalties for impaired driving. It will remain unclear whether these have an impact until probably next year when StatsCan releases its new national statistics. In 2013, Saskatchewan led the Country in alcohol-related death and injuries at more than twice the national average.

Overall, in 2014, there were 27, 571 collisions resulting in 130 deaths and 5,796 injuries.

Meanwhile, SGI also released the numbers from its monthly safety spotlight for January, which focussed on intersection safety.

In addition to 504 intersection-related citations, police issued 1,306 tickets for speeding or aggressive driving, 131 impaired driving charges and 173 for distracted driving of which 97 were for cell phone use.

Intersections remain the most likely place for collisions, for obvious reasons. According to the 2014 annual report, 11,000 collisions occurred at intersections that year, causing 28 deaths and resulting in injuries for 3,200 people.