THUNDER BAY - Ontario Provincial Police are reminding drivers to take a few extra seconds to buckle up before hitting area roadways.
“Our number one message is simply that five seconds can save your life,” Sgt. Shelley Garr, community safety coordinator with the Northwest region OPP, said. “That’s about all it takes to put on your seatbelt. We’re asking that every single person that gets into a vehicle puts on your seatbelt. It’s a basic message.”
The OPP is holding its Fall Seat Belt Campaign from Sept. 28 to Oct. 4. During the campaign, OPP officers will be conducting enforcement and education focusing on seatbelt laws and safety.
According to Garr, from Sept. 21 to 25, OPP officers in the Northwest region issued 64 provincial offence notices that were seatbelt related.
“Sixty-four is more than we want to see,” Garr said. “We want to see nothing, that’s our hope in the Northwest region and across the province. We want everyone to wear their seatbelt. It’s simple.”
Drivers caught not wearing a seatbelt face a $240 fine and two demerit points. But the push to get people to buckle up is about more than saving people money in fines.
“It’s for your safety and for the safety of everyone else on the road,” Garr said. “It’s not just you that can possibly be saved, it could be someone else in the vehicle as well.”
Between 2011 and 2015, 347 people killed in collisions on Ontario roads were found to not be wearing a seatbelt and 40 people have been killed so far in 2016.
According to Garr, seven people in Northwestern Ontario not wearing a seatbelt were killed in 2015 alone.
Garr added that initiatives like the Fall Seat Belt Campaign are still necessary because people of all ages still choose to get behind the wheel without buckling up, risking their own lives and the lives of others.
“There is certainly no excuse for that younger generation for not wearing a seatbelt,” Garr said. “A lot of the older generation, they grew up and had experience without that law, but they are doing pretty well with wearing their seatbelt.”
But adults need to lead the way by setting a good example, Garr said.
“It’s not fine to just say that my 16-year-old has his seatbelt on or my child is in their car seat so I’m not going to bother with mine, you need to have your seatbelt on as a driver,” Garr continued. “We are going to be out there. So put on your seatbelt and be safe.”
