Saskatchewan police ticket 190 motorists for unsafe winter driving in November

Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI), the province’s self-sustaining auto insurance fund, said on Monday that police issued 190 tickets related to winter driving offences during November’s province-wide traffic safety spotlight on safe winter driving.

The majority of the tickets – 134 – were for exceeding 60 kilometres per hour (km/h) when passing emergency vehicles/highway equipment/tow trucks with lights flashing, SGI said in a media statement. Forty-one tickets were for driving at a speed “greater than reasonable and safe” and another 15 tickets were for driving with an obstructed windshield or window.

SGI said in the statement that there were also 4,517 tickets for speeding/aggressive driving, 382 tickets for distracted driving (301 of those for cellphone use), 354 occupant restraint tickets, and 296 offences related to impaired driving during the month. The results include all traffic safety focus results for November submitted by police as of Dec. 16.

Related: Police in Saskatchewan focus on drug, alcohol impaired drivers in December

“This winter, remember to drive according to road conditions by slowing down and increasing your following distance,” SGI advised. “It’s also important to remember to slow to 60 km/h when passing emergency vehicles, highway equipment and tow trucks with lights flashing.”

December’s focus is on impaired driving, with police on the lookout for drivers under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.

According to SGI, on average in Saskatchewan, there are more than 1,300 collisions each year involving alcohol and/or other drugs, resulting in 58 deaths and 656 injuries. These numbers are based on the five-year average from 2010 to 2014 (with 2014 data being preliminary).