REGINA, (Nov. 10, 2004) — The union representing Saskatchewan highway cops says the province recorded Canada’s highest traffic collision fatality rate because highway officers have been relegated to inspecting trucks only.

Earlier this week, Transport Canada reported that Saskatchewan had 14.9 fatalities per 100,000 population — up from 13.5 in 2002, and disproportionately higher than the national average of 8.8.

Bob Bymoen, president of Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union, told the Regina Leader-Post that the increased deaths in 2003 can be linked to a reduction of his members’ job duties.

As part of the Highway Traffic Act, highway officers had the authority to stop all private vehicles for such things as traffic violations and impaired driving, as well as commercial trucks. But in 2002, the government prioritized enforcement of weights and dimensions rules for the trucking industry and scrapped enforcement of private vehicles, Bymoen told the newspaper.

However, Pamela Bishop, the highways department’s director of communications said the officers never had the authority to lay traffic or DUI-related charges. If they witnessed a traffic violation or suspected impaired driving, they could pull over the vehicle, inspect its condition, but notify the RCMP and report and suspected infraction against the criminal code, she told the Leader-Post.

While the union is calling for the new rules to be overturned, Bishop said that the transport officers’ mandate would continue to be limited to commercial vehicles and weights and dimensions for the near future.

— from the Regina Leader-Post