Distracted driving can cost you your life, or the life of someone you love. This is why next month the province is raising the fines for distracted driving.

"On February 1st, the price of distracted driving increases sharply here in Saskatchewan, with a first-time ticket going to $580, and subsequent offenses will increase sharply after that if you get multiple tickets within one year," said Manager of Media Relations with SGI, Tyler McMurchy.

He said distracted driving is one of the most significant concerns that we have on roads here in Saskatchewan.

"It's a leading cause of collisions and injuries and also fatalities," McMurchy noted. "Year in, year out, it's usually the top contributor to collisions, it's the top factor in collisions that injure people, and it's second only to impaired driving when it comes to collisions that kill people."

He said the prevalence of distracted driving is the reason for the stiff penalties.

"I think it doesn't take much effort when you're out driving, to spot somebody on their phone, or not paying attention in other ways behind the wheel," he said. "So that's what, really, the ticket increase is meant to deter."

"We really want to see fewer people driving distracted, because our roads will be much safer as a result."

He said in 2019 there was a dramatic increase in the number of tickets issued by police for distracted driving, which tells us police are very vigilent about catching distracted drivers.

"Traffic enforcement in general in Saskatchewan is as strong as it's ever been, given there have been additional traffic positions added to police agencies throughout Saskatchewan through the Combined Traffic Services Saskatchewan initiative that started in 2014," McMurchy explained. "It resulted in an additional 120 police officers being dedicated to traffic enforcement, really aimed at making our roads safer."

He said some months in 2019 saw more than 1,000 tickest issued for distracted driving. And, while numbers aren't yet in for December, he noted that, perhaps following the announcement of the fine increase, distracted driving numbers were down drastically in November.