During the month of October, Saskatchewan law enforcement members will by keeping an eye on distracted drivers.
Police will be looking for drivers using mobile devices or just not paying enough attention to the road during next month’s traffic safety spotlight.
Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) said distracted driving is a top traffic safety concern, contributing to 16 deaths and over 4,500 collisions on the province’s roads in 2019.
“The February increase in distracted driving penalties caught a lot of people’s attention,” Penny McCune, chief operating officer of the Auto Fund, said in a press release.
“But despite those harsher consequences, it’s still not hard to spot drivers conspicuously staring down at their laps.”
Holding, viewing, using, or manipulating a handheld cellphone while operating a motor vehicle can lead to a $580 ticket and four demerit points. Fines increase to 1,400 and $2,100 for each subsequent ticket within a year, SGI said.
The last traffic spotlight that focused on distracted driving resulted in 700 tickets during June.
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