During November’s Traffic Safety Spotlight, Saskatchewan police officers are on the lookout for suspended drivers and expired licence plates.
To help spot those violations, police are using automated licence plate readers (ALPRs). SGI kicked off the traffic spotlight Friday morning with a demonstration of an ALPR. The devices use infrared beams to scan licence plates and check them against a database of stolen vehicles and suspended driver’s licences. They can also alert an officer when a vehicle registered to someone under warrant is spotted.
According to SGI, at any given time, more than 50,000 drivers are suspended in Saskatchewan, anywhere from a few days to indefinitely. In 2016, there were more than 1,800 convictions for driving while disqualified.
Driving while disqualified carries the potential of Criminal Code charges, fines, jail time and a minimum 30-day vehicle seizure (along with the resulting fees). If a driver causes a collision and doesn’t have a valid licence or insurance, he or she can be held responsible for all the resulting costs.
The consequence for operating an unregistered vehicle is a $580 fine and one demerit point. Repeat offences result in a seven-day vehicle seizure in the Driver Improvement Program.
