Each month, SGI and law enforcement across the province will focus on a specific traffic safety issue. In February, that spotlight was on people not wearing their seatbelts. 

Over the course of the 28 days in February, officers handed a total of 262 tickets for seatbelt and other restraint concerns across Saskatchewan – an average of nearly ten a day. This was on top of all other traffic offences that officers issued tickets for. 

Of the 262 tickets, 195 were for drivers not wearing a seatbelt, 37 were for small children not being restrained properly with the proper booster seat or car seat, and 32 were for passengers over the age of 16 not wearing a seatbelt. 

Each of those offences comes with a $175 ticket, and three demerit points under SGI’s Safe Driver Recognition Program. 

In addition to the tickets issued for seatbelts, law enforcement in Saskatchewan also issued 335 distract driving tickets, 284 of which were for cell phone use. There were 3,370 tickets issued for speeding and aggressive driving violation and 278 reported impaired driving offences, 203 of which were criminal code charges. 

The traffic safety spotlight for the month of March has been on speeding.