The SGI traffic spotlight for the first month of 2025 is to be alert and avoid costly collisions.  SGI spokesperson Michaela Solomon explains that being alert while driving means keeping your attention on the road, eliminating all distractions and making sure your passengers know that your focus needs to be on getting everyone where they need to be safely.

Nearly half of all collisions occur at intersections, so she urges everyone to watch for hazards and yielding the right of way and be a defensive driver when approaching and going through an intersection. The final tip from SGI is to adjust your driving for road and weather conditions.
When the roads aren’t good as can often be the case in the winter, increase your following distance and slow down.

Solomon stresses that collisions are dangerous so keeping everyone safe is the number one priority, but there is also a financial cost with accidents. If you are responsible for the accident, you have to pay a deductible and deal with demerit points that could then reduce your insurance discount or prompt a financial penalty.

There may also be a traffic ticket which would then mean more demerit points, and then, Solomon adds, there is also the hassle and potential added cost of being without a vehicle if yours is in for repairs or gets written off entirely.