Submitted
Danielle Chartier, NDP critic for SGI, says immediate action is needed to make Saskatchewan’s roads and highways safer, and the Sask. Party’s traffic safety committee falls short.
In the coming weeks, the NDP will put concrete proposals on the table to improve road safety, regardless of the creation of the Legislative Committee on Traffic Safety announced Feb. 7.
“The creation of a committee is finally at least evidence that the Sask. Party recognizes there are problems to be addressed,” said Chartier, who has been outspoken about Saskatchewan’s abysmal traffic death rate in 2012.
“But, a slow-moving committee mandated to make recommendations is red-tape and bureaucracy, not action.”
Chartier added that municipal police services, the RCMP and SGI already know the major causes of Saskatchewan’s disastrous safety record, and other provinces have successful programs in place the province can replicate.
While the NDP will participate constructively on the new committee, Chartier said the creation of the committee will not deter the work the NDP has already been doing.
“The NDP will not slow down,” said Chartier. “We have been consulting stakeholders and experts and believe that there are steps that can be taken immediately to make roads safer. We’re not going to put that on hold because we are not prepared to see a repeat of 2012’s horrendous fatality count.”
Saskatchewan has the highest rate of impaired driving and impaired driving fatalities among the provinces and had a record number of deaths on Saskatchewan roads in 2012 at 175.
