Nearly 500 motorists across Saskatchewan incurred a costly mistake to start their summer last month.
According to the Saskatchewan Government Insurance's (SGI) June traffic safety spotlight, police caught 482 impaired drivers - 319 of which received criminal charges.
"An impaired driving charge or even getting your licence suspended can really wreck your summer," said SGI's Manager of Media Relations Tyler McMurchy.
While the remaining 163 impaired drivers were handed administrative licence suspensions for exceeding the provincial limits. Most of those were drug-related.
"What that entails is, if a driver fails one of those roadside oral fluid testing tests that can detect cannabis and other drugs in their system, they may get a temporary roadside suspension," he said.
Last year 33 fatalities, 370 injuries, and over 650 collisions on roadways in the province were attributed to motorists driving under the influence. Those figures have been almost sliced in half from a decade ago, McMurchy said.
"The human cost of impaired driving [is down]," he said. "Police are still, however, able to catch between 300 to 500 people driving impaired to some degree on our roads every month. That shows there is still work to do on that front."
McMurchy believes that work can be done through awareness campaigns, media messaging, increased enforcement, more partnerships, and legislative changes - tools SGI is already using.
"Police have absolutely stepped up their enforcement of impaired driving and I think that's something drivers will want to be aware of," he said. "Again we aren't telling anybody you can't have a good time this summer, we're just saying make those responsible choices."
Saskatchewan law enforcement also served up 482 tickets for seatbelt infractions, 831 tickets for distracted driving, and 5,336 speeding/aggressive driving tickets in June.