Some new records were hit in May in the province, and nobody is celebrating.

SGI’s Traffic Safety Spotlight for May was on impaired driving, but records were set for the number of distracted driving, seatbelt, and speeding offenses.

“We just set new distracted and speeding records back in March, and they're high again and speeding has been high for the last three months,” said SGI’s Media Relations Manager Tyler McMurchy. “This doesn't necessarily correspond with an increase in those activities, it just means that the people who are doing them are getting caught.”

He noted that with 120 new traffic officer positions added since 2014 via the Combined Traffic Services Saskatchewan initiative, enforcement has never been more effective.

“It bears repeating, the level of enforcement for traffic laws on Saskatchewan roads has never been higher and the people who are engaging in unsafe behaviours, like driving distracted, speeding, not wearing your seat belt, or driving impaired, they are more likely to get caught than they have ever been,” said McMurchy.

He noted the records could be reflecting higher numbers because the RCMP ran additional enforcement initiatives throughout the month.

“These are records no one is celebrating because when you see the fact that these number of people are getting caught, at least we know these activities are still happening on Saskatchewan roads,” he added.

He said before 2017, the last time Saskatchewan had seen fewer than the 100 deaths seen that year on our highways was the same year Elvis walked into Sun Records and recorded his first single, in 1953.

McMurchy said while it would be just great if Saskatchewan drivers would stop speeding and using cell phones behind the wheel, it's a good thing that the numbers from May's Traffic Safety Spotlight are so high, because it means policing is effective.