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More officers on highways to enforce new legislation

Jun 2, 2014 | 1:21 PM

Two new traffic units in the province will help enforce new driving legislation.

The new legislation, which takes effect on June 27, will focus on harsher penalties for impaired driving, distracted driving and excessive speed.

The two units are made up of 30 officers, 15 from existing provincially funded positions and 15 new positions funded by SGI. They will patrol central and southeast Saskatchewan.

“Saskatchewan has one of the worst rates of injury and collisions on highways,” Corrections and Policing Minister Christine Tell said in the media release.

“With 60 more officers dedicated to enforcing the new laws, drivers will have additional encouragement to change behaviours that could result in a traffic collision, making our roads safer for all road users.”

Under government’s targeted policing initiative, 30 of the 125 existing police positions will be dedicated to traffic safety. The RCMP will dedicate 25 officers and the Saskatoon Police Service will provide five officers, the release said.

The dedicated traffic safety enforcement units were created after two recommendations from a provincial traffic safety report.  

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