A law created in Saskatchewan over four decades ago aimed at increasing safety appeared to be too much of a task for hundreds of residents last month.

Forty-four years ago the province introduced the seatbelt law and that's what SGI's monthly traffic safety spotlight zoned in on in June.

Law enforcement across the province combined to issue 490 tickets for people not using or wearing seatbelts or small passengers who were not properly restrained.

"It shouldn't be this easy to find people not wearing their seatbelt because people should be buckling up," Jennifer Sully, a communications consultant for SGI, said. "There are some misconceptions around seatbelts, some people think they're better off being thrown clear of the vehicle in a collision, that's just not the case."

According to SGI stats, people ejected from a vehicle are three times more likely to be killed and 17 times more likely to be ejected if you’re not wearing a seatbelt.

"Your vehicle has that protective cage around you, there's airbags, and all of those things work in conjunction with a seatbelt to protect you in the event of a collision," she said.

Of the 490 seatbelt infractions reported, 313 were for simply not wearing a seatbelt, 51 for passengers not buckling up, 43 for passengers under seven not properly restrained, and 83 related to seatbelts and child restraints.

Aside from the seatbelt infractions, 974 distracted driving tickets were issued last month with 847 related to mobile phone use.

"It's a little bit high, it's not the highest we've seen," she said. "We actually saw the highest number back in October of 2019 before the distracted driving penalties increased... Really there's no call, text or notification that's worth a $580 ticket."

Those weren't the only numbers SGI's traffic safety spotlight reports either, as 6,458 tickets for speeding or aggressive driving were issued and 447 impaired driving offences were recorded.