New government statistics show impaired driving deaths are on the decline in Saskatchewan.
However, traffic deaths caused by drugs and alcohol continue to make up a significant number of all fatalities.
From 2012 to 2017, the number of traffic fatalities involving drugs or alcohol dropped by 51 per cent. However, 100 per cent of all traffic fatalities were caused by impaired driving in both 2015 and 2016 and 87 per cent in 2017.
Traffic fatalities as a whole are also going down. The total number of traffic deaths between 2012 and 2017 declined by 46 per cent.
“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,” Saskatchewan Government Insurance Minister Joe Hargrave says in a released statement.
According to Statistics Canada, in 2015 Saskatchewan had the highest impaired driving rate among provinces at 575 per 100,000 people.
The next highest province was Alberta at 314 per 100,000.
The numbers were released by Saskatchewan Government Insurance this morning.
(PHOTO: SGI Minister Joe Hargrave. Photo courtesy saskatchewan.ca)