Saskatchewan Government Insurance and police focusing on distracted drivers throughout October

Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) and police around the province will be watching for drivers using cellphones as well as other actions such as taking their attention off the road while eating, grooming, setting a GPS or refereeing children during the traffic safety spotlight for October, the province’s self-sustaining auto insurance fund said last week.

Statistics from SGI indicate that 26 people were killed and nearly 600 were injured last year due to distracted driving, which often includes cellphone use behind the wheel. In addition, there were more than 3,300 collisions in Saskatchewan related to distracted driving last year, making it the top contributing factor in all collisions and the third contributing factor in fatal collisions, following impaired driving (first) and speeding (second).

“No one ever thinks today will be their last day on earth,” said Denton Keating, manager of Tubman Cremation and Funeral Services, in a statement from SGI. “They only take their eyes off the road ‘for a second,’ but it only takes a second to do something wrong and cause catastrophic damages.”

While all deaths are traumatic, motor vehicle collisions “seem to create trauma beyond any imagination.” Keating said. “They’re sudden, and often involve younger people. The trauma of a sudden death will spread throughout a family and even a community like a wildfire.”

But it isn’t just teen drivers that are texting and driving, Keating said, adding that he sees parents with children in the back seat doing it too. “They’re no longer just putting their own lives at risk, but also the lives of their children and other loved ones, not to mention the innocent victims in oncoming traffic.”

To draw more attention to the issue of distracted driving, SGI has been working on a new province-wide multimedia advertising campaign. Ads will be starting Thanksgiving Day.

SGI also noted in the statement that tougher driver distraction laws have come into effect over the last few years to help combat this problem:

• Effective Jan. 1, 2010: Experienced drivers are allowed to use hands-free devices while driving, but new drivers (those in the Graduated Driver’s Licensing program) cannot;

• Effective Jan. 1, 2010: There is also a $280 fine for using a cellphone while driving or driving without due care and attention. Convictions result in four demerit points under SGI’s Safe Driver Recognition program and depending where drivers sit on the safety rating scale, potential consequences include a financial penalty or loss of an insurance discount; and

• Effective June 27, 2014: A vehicle will be seized for seven days on a second or subsequent offence for cellphone use within one year, and seven days on a third or subsequent offence for driving without due care and attention within one year.

In the first year following the June 2014 implementation of these new laws, 35 drivers had their vehicle seized for using an electronic communication device while driving or for driving without due care and attention.