Saskatchewan Government Insurance has released their numbers from October’s Traffic Safety Spotlight, which shined a light on distracted driving in the province. And what the light revealed wasn’t pretty.

Tyler McMurchy, manager of media relations with SGI, said on Thursday morning that police caught 658 people driving distracted and were issued a ticket. The majority – 538 drivers – for cell phone use while behind the wheel, while 120 were for driving without due care and attention.

While the numbers might seem concerning to some, McMurchy noted that it’s a significant drop from October 2019.

“That’s when we saw nearly 1,300 distracted drivers ticketed, but that was before the new significant penalties had come into effect or were even announced,” explained McMurchy.

Distracted driving tickets start at $580 and result in the loss of four demerit points on your driving record.

McMurchy added police in the province handed out 6,906 tickets for speeding and aggressive driving in October, too.

“We do see that number fluctuate quite a bit. It can range anywhere from 5,000 to 8,000 per month,” he said. “This number from October 2020 is kind of in the range that we see each month.”

In addition, 437 impaired drivers were caught and 403 tickets were handed out for seat restraint infractions.

SGI’s November’s Traffic Safety Spotlight is on catching suspended drivers and unregistered vehicles.