Here's how much tickets for street racing, stunting could cost Sask. drivers
This month SGI is cracking down on dangerous driving behaviours, including street racing and stunting.
New penalties for street racing and stunting came into effect on Oct. 1.
Tickets for both offences will now cost the driver $580 along with four demerit points.
Fines for street racing will escalate for repeat offenders, according to SGI spokesperson Tyler McMurchy.
A second street racing fine will cost $1,400 and a third ticket will be $2,100, if the repeat infractions happen in a one-year span. The vehicle will also be impounded for 30 days for all street racing convictions.
“These are fairly serous consequences and it’s a very serious offence,” McMurchy said.
“It’s something that doesn’t belong on our roads.”
In the last two years, police officers have been handing out more tickets for street racing and stunting.
McMurchy said the number of tickets issued each year has doubled from about 30 to 60 convictions.
Sgt. Ian Barr called street racing “a problem in certain areas of the city during certain times of the year.”
Regina’s east end near the Greens on Gardiner as well as Albert Street tend to see the most activity on weekends and during nice weather, Barr said.
“Sometimes it’s a legitimate race … but other times it can be a road rage incident where somebody’s trying to get ahead of somebody and somebody doesn’t want to let them in,” Barr said.
It is part of an overall trend with dangerous driving habits increasing since the pandemic, according to McMurchy.
SGI is focusing on speed during its October traffic safety spotlight.
Excessive speed is one of the leading factors in traffic-related deaths and injuries, McMurchy said.
Last year, speed contributed to 1,263 collisions, resulting in 554 injuries and 20 deaths.
“When you’re driving too fast really bad things could happen,” McMurchy said.
Barr said traffic officers are always focused on catching excessive speeders and the month of October won’t be any different.
“There’s nowhere or very few places in the city where you can find everyone obeying the speed limit,” Barr said.
“It is unfortunately far too frequent that we find people going over 35 kilometres and over 50 kilometres over the speed limit.”
According to Barr, increasing a vehicle’s speed by 20 kilometres per hour can greatly increase the stopping distance.
For example, the stopping distance of a vehicle doubles if a person is driving 70 km/hr in a 50 km/hr zone, he said.
“When you think about approaching a cross walk or school zone or somebody riding off the sidewalk on a bicycle, that could make the difference between being able to stop for that person or a collision happening,” Barr said.
McMurchy said SGI plans to increase its penalties for “egregious speeding offences” in the next few months. New fines will come with an automatic 30-day vehicle impoundment and a seven-day license suspension, he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Saskatchewan households will continue to receive carbon tax rebate: Trudeau
Households in Saskatchewan will continue to receive Canada Carbon Rebate payments, despite the province refusing to remit the federal carbon price on natural gas, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
'We hoped for this day, but we were scared that it would not never ever come because it took so long.' That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.
Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko won't play in Game 2
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
Pedestrian, baby injured after stroller struck and dragged by vehicle in Squamish, B.C.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.