Although it's up from last year, the number of impaired driving offences reported by police and SGI was around the average, which in turn is still too many. 

352 impaired driving offences, including 306 Criminal Code charges and 46 roadside suspensions were reported throughout the month of December. 

"It is up from last year for December's Traffic Safety Spotlight. I remember 2017 was a pleasant surprise, lower than expected, as it was 238. However, the acceptable number is always zero, you don't want to see anyone driving impaired," said Manager of Media Relations with SGI Tyler McMurchy.  

December is a time where police are especially focused on the enforcement of impaired driving and as of December 18, police across Canada can demand a breath sample of any driver they’ve pulled over.

"352 is typical of what we get on an average month in Saskatchewan unfortunately. We want to see that number go down. We understand that enforcement is very strong especially during the holiday season. We always say when you see a high number of offences it's a function of that enforcement, but, of course, if people weren't doing it, they wouldn't be caught doing it."

Throughout the month of December police in Saskatchewan also reported the following:

375 distracted driving offences (including 282 cellphone tickets)
287 tickets related to seatbelts and car seats
4,771 tickets for speeding and aggressive driving.

SGI's Traffic Safety Spotlight for the month of January is once again impaired driving. 

"We do it two months in a row and that's simply because its the number one problem when it comes to traffic safety in Saskatchewan and the number one cause of fatalities and it's 100 percent preventable. Police are out there looking for impaired drivers, of course, year round, but we do shine that Traffic Safety Spotlight on the issue of impaired driving during the month of January as well. We want to make 2019 the year that nobody thinks about driving impaired."