Police still catching hundreds of impaired drivers in Sask., but there has been long-term progress: SGI
There are about 200 to 400 impaired drivers caught each month on Sask. roads
Saskatchewan police officers have been consistently busting hundreds of impaired drivers on the road each month, but long-term data indicates a decrease in death and injuries on the road.
The SGI traffic safety spotlight for August shows that there 341 impaired drivers caught. There were 292 impaired drivers in July and another 367 in June, for comparison.
Officers typically catch between 200 to 400 impaired drivers a month but those numbers really only show police enforcement and not how many impaired drivers may be on the road, according to Tyler McMurchy, manager of media relations with SGI.
"Those numbers represent significant improvements over the average that we saw over the previous decade," McMurchy said Monday.
Deaths and injuries involving alcohol on Sask. roads by year break down as follows:
- 2012: 72 deaths, 756 injuries.
- 2013: 43 deaths, 613 injuries.
- 2014: 60 deaths, 560 injuries.
- 2015: 54 deaths, 586 injuries.
- 2016: 57 deaths, 464 injuries.
- 2017: 39 deaths, 340 injuries.
There were 42 deaths and 355 injuries from alcohol-related activity in 2018, according to SGI's preliminary numbers. But McMurchy said the numbers could change, depending on when reports into the deaths and injuries are finalized.
McMurchy said the number of caught drivers don't necessarily capture just how many impaired drivers are on the road, only the dents that police are putting into combatting impaired driving, which is still the leading cause of death and injury on provincial roads.
Forty-six of those instances were impaired drivers who received roadside suspensions but did not meet the threshold for criminal charges.
"So we're happy about that. But we understand that there's still much work to do and still significant improvements that we can make," McMurchy said.
McMurchy emphasized that rather than driving impaired, people should arrange a safe ride home.
"We want to see people change their behaviours and we know that attitudes are starting to change in Saskatchewan. It's not all bad news, but impaired driving still remains a very significant issue."