This province recorded its lowest number of traffic deaths in almost 70 years

REGINA – Preliminary figures show that in 2017 Saskatchewan recorded its lowest traffic fatality numbers since the 1950s.

Saskatchewan Government Insurance says in a release that there were 102 deaths last year compared with 125 in 2016.

SGI says the last time Saskatchewan recorded fewer traffic deaths was in 1954, when 74 people were killed at a time when there were less than one-third the number of registered vehicles in the province as there are today.

An all-time high was reached in 1974 when 306 people died, but the Crown insurer says fatalities have been gradually decreasing after peaking in the 1960s and 1970s.

The yearly average in the decade from 2007 to 2016 was 145, but when the numbers spiked to 183 in 2012, a special committee was formed that recommended a number of initiatives and new legislation to improve traffic safety.

SGI says impaired and distracted driving, speed and lack of a seatbelt or occupant restraint remain the top contributing factors in vehicle deaths.