OPP back with annual fall seat belt campaign
Posted Oct 1, 2017 07:39:13 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Provincial police are renewing the call to those behind the wheel to buckle up, as they conduct their annual fall seat belt campaign.
So far this year, OPP say there have been 29 seat belt-related deaths on roadways they patrol.
Sgt Dave Rektor tells 570 NEWS, while there’s been about a 10 per cent drop in West Region in the number of people killed in crashes because they weren’t wearing seat belts, that number continues to go up across the province.
“We were 10 minutes into the campaign on Wednesday when one of our first charges was laid,” he says.
Rektor adds passengers in the back of a vehicle who are not properly secured can become human projectiles, and put a driver at further risk.
“[Earlier this week] in Norfolk County there was a van with a driver and six passengers, and none of the passengers at the back of the van had seat belts,” he says. “All six of them were injured, fortunately not seriously, but they could have very easily been killed. We see this happening on a daily basis.”
Drivers are responsible for making sure passengers under 16-years-old are wearing a seat belt.
Plus you can be slapped with a fine between $200 and $1,000, and two demerit points, for not strapping yourself in.
The campaign runs until October 7th.
