SGI and law enforcement focused their Traffic Safety Spotlight for the month of August on rural driving, and while the month's stats are not specific to just gravel travel, Manager of Media Relations has some tips for those who aren't as confident on the dirt roads.

"It's you know it's a part of life driving in Saskatchewan," he noted. "All of us Saskatchewan drivers are familiar, at some point, with driving on gravel roads. Many Saskatchewan communities are connected by gravel roads, and there are more than 5,000 kilometres of gravel roads in Saskatchewan, so it's it's something that is a part of driving here and we wanted drivers to think about some of the unique challenges when it came to navigating those rolled roads."

McMurchy said whether it's changes in terrain, perhaps being a little more hilly or curvy than the typical highway, or maybe there are uncontrolled intersections, or more frequent encounters with wildlife or farm equipment.

"Traction and visibility are all a little different, speed limits are lower on rural roads, and so that's something that we were focusing on it in August," he said. "Now, there aren't any particular offences that apply to rural roads, that don't apply to other road systems necessarily, so the results that we're reporting are for all road systems."

"We want people to take home the message that it doesn't really matter if you're on a gravel road or a city, street or a paved highway or even a back alley, the the rules of the road apply anytime you're behind the wheel."

He said the stats are reported monthly for 'the big four', speeding, impaired, driving, distracted driving and not wearing your seat belt. However, not everyone knows how to travel on gravel.

"There are definitely challenges additional challenges to driving on rural roads. Sight distances may be shorter, there are no shoulders, curves or sharper, and there are many 'T' intersections, there may be uncontrolled railway crossings or or intersections," he pointed out. "You're also more likely to encounter slow moving farm vehicles or wild wildlife, or livestock you know who might have escaped."

"Whether or not you decide to just stick to the pavement or venture on the rural roads, I mean, you can do it and you can do it safely, but just keep in mind that you will want to reduce your speed. You're going to want to increase your following distance, and keep your lights on, so you're visible, understanding that you may have your visibility impacted by dust or the the terrain that you're dealing with as well."

"As long as you take additional precautions to keep yourself and others safe, you can absolutely drive on rural roads safely. And many people do every single day."

"But just keep in mind the additional risks or the fact that you may have less traction and may require more stopping distance, so that's another reason to stretch out that following distance between you and the vehicle in front of you, and only passing when it's safe of course."

Over the past five years in Saskatchewan, 61 people have lost their lives just in impaired driving fatalities on rural roads. Of those 61 fatalities, 53 were single vehicle rollovers.

"So, t's not about not getting caught. It's about keeping yourself safe and others who you might be who might be in the vehicle with you."