Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) recently shared its preliminary data for 2017 and revealed that last year saw a considerable decrease of impaired driving-related deaths.
There were 39 of those deaths on Saskatchewan’s roads last year – representing a 32% decrease from 2016’s number of impaired driving-related deaths, at 57. Thirty-four (34) of those deaths in 2017 involved alcohol-impaired driving, while the remaining fatalities involved drug-impaired driving.
Earlier this year, SGI said that there were a total of 102 deaths on the province’s roads in 2017. The insurer noted that this is the lowest number it has seen in over 60 years.
"The fact that we're seeing fewer collisions, injuries and fatalities attributed to impaired driving has us cautiously optimistic that attitudes and behaviours are changing in our province," said SGI minister Joe Hargrave in a release.
While the number of impaired driving-related injuries remains relatively high, the number is down for the third year in a row.
There were 340 impaired driving-related injuries in 2017 – 320 of which were attributed to alcohol. In comparison, 2016 saw 464 impaired driving-related injuries and 2015 had 586.
"The latest statistics are evidence of an encouraging trend," commented Saskatoon Police Service chief Troy Cooper.
Impaired driving has been a major issue in Saskatchewan for years. CBC News reported that in 2015, the province had 575 impaired driving incidents per 100,000 people – the highest impaired driving rate among provinces.
