Sask. residents believe roads safer due to new impaired driving laws: survey

Results of a new survey suggest Saskatchewan residents believe roads aresafer due to harsher penalties for impaired driving in the province.

The newlaws state anyone caught driving with a blood alcohol content of more than .04 per cent will have their vehicle seized for three days. Anyone under the age of 21 cannot have any alcohol in their system while driving.

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The belief is the new laws, which came into effect after the new year, will make Saskatchewan roads safer.

Of all the provinces, Saskatchewan has the highest amount of impaired drivers charged per capita 575 people per 100,000. That'smore than double the national average of 201,according to StatsCanada data from 2015.

Fifty-seven per cent of respondentsexpressed strong supportforthree-day vehicle seizures when drivers are caught with a BAC of more than .04.Another 21 per cent of survey respondents were'somewhat' supportive.

The survey shows women are more likely to agree with the vehicle seizure than men are:86 per cent to 70 per cent, respectively.

In total, 801 people were surveyed between Jan. 10 and 12, selected from a pool of SaskWatch Research panel members. Margins of error are not applicable in this case as online surveys are considered non-probability proportion samples. The survey was conducted by Insightrix Research.