Saskatchewan law enforcement officers issued more than 5,000 speeding or aggressive driving-related tickets in July: SGI

Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) announced on Thursday that law enforcement officers in the province issued more than 5,000 speeding or aggressive driving-related tickets last month.

July’s traffic safety spotlight focused on work zones and aggressive driving, SGI, the province’s self-sustaining auto insurance fund, said in a press release. In total, law enforcement issued 113 tickets in work zones and 5,338 other speeding/aggressive driving-related tickets. The results include traffic safety focus reports submitted by police as of Aug. 17, not including tickets issued through photo speed enforcement.

For the work zone tickets, 101 were for exceeding 60 kilometres per hour (km/h) while passing highway workers or occupied highway equipment within a work zone; six were for speeding in construction zones where a flag person is present; two were for exceeding 60 km/h when passing occupied highway equipment; three were for failing to obey the direction of a flag person or peace officer; and one was for exceeding 60 km/h while passing highway equipment with warning lights in operation.

Regarding speeding/aggressive driving, police issued 414 tickets for exceeding the posted speed limit by 35 km/h; 60 tickets for exceeding the posted speed limit by 50 km/h; six tickets for driving at least twice the posted speed limit; 261 tickets for exceeding 60 km/h when passing emergency vehicles and tow trucks with lights activated; and 4,597 “other” speed-related offences.

There were also 338 impaired driving-related offences, 318 tickets for distracted driving (185 of those for cellphone use) and 447 tickets for not using a seatbelt or the appropriate car seat or booster seat.

SGI and law enforcement continue to focus on commercial vehicle safety for the month of August.