Saskatchewan toughens penalties for distracted driving

Those who use their phones behind the wheel in Saskatchewan should prepare for their wallets to get a lot lighter — the provincial government is beefing up its distracted driving laws.

On Tuesday, the government announced tougher penalties will come into effect Feb. 1, with escalating fines for repeat offences within a 12-month period.

In 2018, 774 people were hurt and 22 people were killed in crashes related to distracted or inattentive driving.

“One death is too many. Twenty-two deaths — that’s 22 people who didn’t come home to their loved ones that day,” said Joe Hargrave, minister responsible for SGI. “Enough is enough. People need to get the message.”

Currently, a ticket for distracted driving is $280, plus four demerits. Repeat offenders have their vehicles seized.

Under the proposed changes, the fine for a first distracted driving conviction will increase to $580, plus four demerits.

A second offence within 12 months of the first will result in a $1,400 ticket, an additional four demerits and an immediate seven-day vehicle seizure. Vehicle owners also will be responsible for towing and impound fees.

A third conviction within 12 months of the first will lead to a $2,100 ticket, four more demerits and another seven-day vehicle seizure.

The demerits also could carry a price for the driver if they’re on the negative side of SGI’s Safe Driver Recognition (SDR) scale.

Three distracted driving tickets in a year, for a driver at zero on the scale, would earn that driver $1,200 in SDR financial penalties as well.

Hargrave said he hopes the increase in the penalties will send a message to people to stop using their phones while driving.

“I would just as soon we have zero revenue from all these fines, that people are smart enough to just not use their phones while they’re driving. But somehow there’s that sense of entitlement, that, ‘I’m allowed to use my phone. I have to use my phone,’ ” said Hargrave.

According to Hargrave, other jurisdictions have increased their penalties for distracted driving but it’s too soon to tell whether it has had a meaningful effect.

However, he pointed to the penalty increases implemented in Saskatchewan recently for impaired driving. Since then, there are still a large number of people being caught, but deaths in related crashes are down.

If people don’t get the message from increases to distracted driving fines, Hargrave said the government is prepared to go further, though he didn’t know yet what that might mean.

Const. Mike Seel with the Regina Police Service was at the announcement on Tuesday.

He runs a Twitter account where he talks daily about the people he catches using their phones, along with other traffic violations. He believes the increased fines will be a deterrent, saying this reminds him of impaired driving in a way.

“Distracted driving is just below impaired driving for causing injury … It was a very serious issue until police started increasing enforcement and the fines and penalties start increasing. So I feel like this will be a good deterrent for people to put their cellphones down,” said Seel.

Much of the province’s messaging focuses on using a cellphone while driving, but these increases apply to any kind of distracted driving.