As new tougher traffic laws come into force this month police across the province will be cracking down on speeding.
SGI announced the monthly traffic safety blitz Monday.
"Speed is a factor in more than a quarter of all traffic fatalities in Saskatchewan," said Andrew Cartmell, president and CEO of SGI. "During the summer months, with increased traffic on our roads and highways, speeding is simply not worth the risk. Plan ahead. Build in more travel time. Slow down and obey posted speed limits to keep yourself and other road users safe."
While the leading cause of collisions is now distracted driving overtaking impaired driving last year, a press release noted that collisions involving excessive speed are generally more severe.
"Each year, there are more than 2,500 speed-related collisions on Saskatchewan roads that claim 46 lives and injure more than 1,000 others," the release stated. "Collisions due to unsafe speed are generally severe - about 29 per cent of speed-related collisions result in injury or death compared with only 16 per cent for non-speed related collisions. For every 100 collisions due to unsafe speed, an average of 42 people are injured or killed."
The new laws went into effect June 27 and include: lowering the speed threshold for dangerous driving from 50 km/h to 35 km/hr over the posted limit; a new offence for driving double the posted limit to include four demerit points and mandatory participation in a driver improvement program; seven day vehicle seizures for driving double the speed limit or more than 50 km/hr over the posted limit; and 30-day vehicle seizure for racing.
The new laws also include longer licence suspensions for impaired driving, vehicle seizure up to 60 days and mandatory ignition interlock in some cases.
Repeat offenders of using a cell phone can also have their vehicles seized for a week.
Also, booster seats are now mandatory for children under the age of seven.
