Spring Seat Belt Campaign Ends in Halton

The annual province-wide Spring Seat Belt Campaign, which ran from April 14 to 24th, 2010 has shown police there are still a few who feel the law needn’t apply to them.

This year to date, the Halton Regional Police Service can attribute one death to the lack of seat belt use. In 2009, the lack of a seat belt was a contributing factor in five fatalities on local roadways.

“Wearing a seat belt in Ontario has been mandatory since 1976, said Chief Gary Crowell. “Given their effectiveness in helping prevent injury and death, it is inconceivable that some people are still not wearing them.”

To drive the point home, police remind area drivers that a young girl survived a serious collision in March, 2010 because she was buckled in a properly installed child car seat.

Prior to the start of the seat belt campaign, volunteers from the Service’s Communities on Phone Patrol (COPP) in Burlington were employed to gauge the compliance rate of wearing seatbelts in the city. They found that 97.5 per cent of the drivers and passengers observed were wearing their seat belts. They also noted the rate for people not using a cellular telephone while driving was as high as 99 per cent.

Follows is a breakdown of seat belt safety campaign results for Halton Region:

• Milton Georgetown Halton Hills Acton 101 Seatbelt warnings 370 Seatbelt Offences 75 Child Seat Warnings 14 Child Seat Offences
• District 2 Oakville 79 Seatbelt warnings 196 Seatbelt Offences 21 Child Seat Warnings 2 Child Seat Offences
• District 3 Burlington 26 Seatbelt warnings 177 Seatbelt Offences 12 Child Seat Warnings 1 Child Seat Offences
• Total for the Region of Halton 206 Seatbelt warnings 743 Seatbelt Offences 108 Child Seat Warnings 17 Child Seat Offences

The Halton Regional Police Service reminds members of the public to be diligent in wearing their seat belts, as time after time they have been proven to save lives. With this in mind, parents should be aware that a properly installed child restraint device reduces a child’s risk of injury in a collision by as much as 75 per cent.
In Ontario, seat belt non-compliance carries a fine of $235 and two demerit points.

BEFORE YOU SET YOUR VEHICLE IN MOTION – HANG UP & BUCKLE UP

Support Our Sponsors