Many police officers in the province spent a lot of time issuing speeding fines in April, highlighted in Saskatchewan Government Insurance’s (SGI) monthly traffic spotlight campaign.
Saskatchewan police wrote 7,165 speeding tickets in total over the course of the month, equaling one ticket written every six minutes.
These numbers don’t include tickets issued from photo radar.
Police issued 528 fines to those who exceeded 60 km/h while passing an emergency vehicle or tow truck, 250 tickets for drivers exceeding the limit by 35 km/h and 65 tickets were issued for exceeding the limit by more than 50 km/h.
More than 300 tickets were issued to drivers for exceeding the limit in a school zone and 38 tickets were handed out for exceeding 60 km/h while passing highway workers.
Tickets for all those offences cost more than regular speeding tickets while carrying additional demerit points.
“We just ask people to obey those posted speed limits. It’s not difficult and it’s not a secret what they are. There are signs everywhere you go,” said Tyler McMurchy, SGI spokesperson.
“Obey those posted speed limits. You can avoid a very expensive speed ticket and you can also keep everyone else on the road safe.”
Aside from speeding, police also issued 456 tickets related to impaired driving, 747 people were caught driving distracted, 641 of which were drivers on their cellphone.
Police also handed out 472 tickets in relation to seatbelt and child-restraint violations.
“Hopefully traffic enforcement will have a ‘slower’ May, but that really depends on drivers deciding to ease off the gas pedal and respect those posted speed limits,” SGI said in a press release Wednesday.
“Please slow down; the nice weather means more pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists on the roads, and motorists need to watch out for these more vulnerable road users.”
In March, SGI reported there were 6,846 speeding tickets handed out by Saskatchewan police.