Regina, SK (Nov. 1, 2019) \u2013 Drivers in Saskatchewan who make the unsafe decision to drive while distracted will soon be paying more for a ticket, with escalating fines for repeat offences within a 12-month period. Changes take effect Feb. 1, 2020.<\/p>\n
Driver distraction or inattention is one of the top causes of collisions, injuries and fatalities on Saskatchewan roads. In 2018, it was a factor in more than 6,000 collisions, 774 injuries and 22 deaths.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnough is enough,\u201d Minister Responsible for SGI Joe Hargrave said. \u201cDespite increased enforcement by police and significant awareness efforts<\/a> by SGI, 22 people lost their lives on Saskatchewan roads in 2018 due to distracted driving or inattention. That is 22 deaths too many.\u201d<\/p>\n Currently, a distracted driving ticket[1<\/a>]<\/sup> costs the recipient $280 plus four demerits, with vehicle seizures for repeat offenders. Starting Feb. 1, 2020, the cost of a ticket will more than double, and the cost of subsequent tickets will escalate.<\/p>\n Here are the consequences distracted drivers can expect:<\/p>\n The demerits could also cost the driver insurance discounts they had earned or \u2013 if they are on the negative side of the SGI Safe Driver Recognition scale<\/a> \u2013 additional financial penalties, at $50 for every point below zero. If a driver started at zero, and received three distracted driving tickets in a year, they would have to pay a total of $1,200 in SDR financial penalties, on top of the other financial impacts.<\/p>\n Police across the province have been catching more distracted drivers than ever before, and statistics reported to SGI show there have been more than 900 distracted driving tickets1 issued every month since May. The vast majority of tickets issued are to drivers caught using their phones behind the wheel.<\/p>\n \u201cDistracted driving kills and injures people; it is a serious safety concern, and our government is sending a direct message to drivers,\u201d Minister Hargrave said. \u201cYes, the tickets are costly. Don\u2019t want to get one? It\u2019s easy. Put the phone down, keep your head up, and focus on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n 1. \u201cDistracted driving tickets\u201d refers to tickets under the Traffic Safety Act<\/em> for violating either:<\/p>\n SGI CANADA is the property and casualty insurance division of SGI, offering products in five Canadian provinces. It operates as SGI CANADA in Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario, and also as Coachman Insurance Company in Ontario. Products are sold through a network of independent insurance brokers. For more information, visit www.sgicanada.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n Source: Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI)<\/em><\/p>\n Tags: distracted driving<\/a>, SGI<\/a>Read the original article at Insurance-Canada.ca <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The cost of a first-time ticket will more than double; repeat offenders to pay even more Regina, SK (Nov. 1, 2019) \u2013 Drivers in Saskatchewan who make the unsafe decision to drive while distracted...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":578,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17610"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/578"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17610\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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