The fight against impaired driving in Saskatchewan is making progress. Just look at the numbers from 2019, which show that fatalities and injuries dropped to the lowest numbers ever. On the other hand, the month of May showed the fight isn't won yet. 

SGI shone their traffic safety spotlight on impaired driving in May, and police officers around the province kept an especially close eye out for those drivers. In total, they found 411 such drivers, 339 of whom earned criminal code charges. 

"While we can feel good about the progress Saskatchewan has seen on impaired driving," said SGI media relations manager Tyler McMurchy, "these numbers show us that there are still people out there who are making the bad decision to drive impaired. And police caught 411 of them in one month in Saskatchewan."

According to McMurchy, an average month in Saskatchewan will see police nab anywhere from 250 to 400 impaired drivers. Last May, there were 325 impaired drivers caught in the province. He added, however, that this month's higher numbers might have something to do with more stringent enforcement, which also likely helped the number of injuries decrease.

"It is a reflection of enforcement," he said. "And one of the reasons we have seen the decline in fatality and injury statistics over the past number of years in Saskatchewan when it comes to impaired driving is the strong enforcement we see from police."

McMurchy also added that he doesn't think the same number of people are getting drunk and getting behind the wheel of a car and police are just better at catching them. In his view, the number of people choosing to drive impaired is actually going down.

"Police enforcement of impaired driving and enforcement of all traffic safety has never been stronger in this province," he said. "And we've seen the results bear fruit in the better impaired driving statistics when it comes to fatalities and injuries. However, you're still going to see that enforcement."

McMurchy also said that other driving offense, like distracted driving and speeding, were lower than usual, though COVID-19 may have impacted that. He hoped to see people still driving carefully as the province reopens. 

"In pre-pandemic times, we were seeing bigger numbers in each of those categories," he said.