The impaired driving rates across the province appear to be continuing on a downward trend.

According to SGI, police handed out 221 impaired-driving-related offences during January, the third consecutive month the numbers have been in the low 200s.

SGI Communications Consultant Jennifer Rathwell said that the increased awareness, especially with the newest legislation this past year, appears to be working, although these current figures still remain alarming.

"We do think more people are getting the message (that) it's never okay to drive impaired," she stated. "That minority who make the poor decision to drive while impaired are increasingly likely to be caught."

Of the 221 offences - 153 of them resulted in criminal code charges, while the remaining 68 were handed roadside suspensions. Rathwell did note however that the figures provided only include numbers submitted by police forces as of certain date.

One number that continues to trend upwards is distracted driving offences, with 500 in the first month of the year - 416 of those cellphone related.

"The majority of those offences noted are for cellphone use, so we need to do better on that," Rathwell said. "No text message, no tweet, no picture or Snapchat is ever going to be as important as the safety of you and others on the road."

SGI also say there were 312 offences related to seatbelts or car seats and 4,612 speeding/aggressive driving offences in January.