Traffic Safety Spotlight for January is impaired driving
Regina, SK (Dec. 29, 2017) — Many New Year’s resolutions are forgotten by the time you finish singing “Auld Lang Syne,” but your friends at SGI have come up with a resolution that’s easy to keep.
“This year, we’re asking everyone to resolve to drive sober in 2018,” said Penny McCune, Chief Operating Officer of the Auto Fund. “And unlike many resolutions, this one has instant results and health benefits: everyone gets home safe and sound.”
SGI recognizes that it can be hard to stick with those traditional resolutions like “join a gym” (can’t, busy binge-watching) or “learn a new language” (that sounds hard), but motivation shouldn’t be a problem with the resolution to #DriveSober. All through January, and throughout the year, police across Saskatchewan will be helping drivers keep this resolution by targeting impaired drivers with checkstops and strategic enforcement.
After impaired driving laws were strengthened in 2014 and again at the beginning of 2017, Saskatchewan now has some of the toughest impaired driving laws in the country with licence suspensions, vehicle seizures, mandatory ignition interlock for convicted impaired drivers, on top of any fines, jail time and driving restrictions imposed by the courts.
Here are some tips that can help you keep the resolution to #DriveSober:
- Be A Good Wingman, and don’t let impaired friends and family drive any night of the year. Offer to be the designated driver, call them a safe ride or let them stay over.
- Going out as a group? Arrange a limo, party bus or shuttle.
- On New Year’s Eve, take the bus for free with the Ding in the New Year program (available in Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert and Moose Jaw).
- Operation Red Nose is also running on New Year’s Eve (available in Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Yorkton and The Battlefords). It’s a volunteer-driven safe ride service that gets you and your vehicle home.
On Saskatchewan roads, more people are killed by impaired driving than by any other cause. In 2016, 57 people lost their lives and 464 were injured in collisions involving alcohol or drugs.
About SGI CANADA
Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) is the province’s self-sustaining auto insurance fund. SGI operates 21 claims centres and five salvage centres across Saskatchewan with a head office in Regina. SGI also works with a network of nearly 400 motor licence issuers across the province. Customers can now do some transactions online. For more information, visit www.sgicanada.ca.
Source: SGI CANADA
Tags: Saskatchewan, SGI
