Saskatchewan is ramping up penalties connected to stunting, street-racing, and high-speed offences.

Legislation that was passed in 2022 will now come into effect, with legislation changing on March 1 and enforcement coming into effect on May 1.

The first piece of legislation raised fines related to those issues to $580.

SGI Spokesperson Tyler McMurchy says the new changes will introduce new penalties.

"As of May 1st, drivers who stunt, or street race, or commit certain high-speed offences will now lose their driver's license for seven days and their vehicle for 30 days immediately upon being caught. So that's some pretty significant penalties for offences, but these are also serious offences that don't belong on our roads and the consequences reflect the seriousness of those offences."

SGI speeding penalties

McMurchy says that he hopes a stronger penalty for those activities will help to dissuade potential racers from breaking the law.

"That is one way that you can give that driver a very stern message that these activities do not belong on public roads and they are not safe for anyone. They put both the driver at risk but also other road users who won't be expecting those kind of activities to be on the roads that they are sharing with them."

Drivers who receive multiple traffic convictions may also face potential further sanctions under SGI’s Driver Improvement Program. 

"The driver improvement program essentially monitors the records of all drivers and if you incur traffic convictions or collisions, you will get demerit points, and after a certain number of demerit points it triggers sanctions. So there is an escalating series of sanctions."

"If we start with an information letter and then can progress into additional requirements for driver education, either a defensive driving course or driver improvement training. It can also result in additional suspensions if you acquire enough points and there are the penalties, kind of escalate from there."

McMurchy says he hopes these new penalties will decrease offences and make streets safer for everybody.