Okotoks RCMP are reminding both drivers and passengers to buckle up in the month of March.
“The message is to just wear your seatbelt. They do save lives,” said Sgt. Ian Shardlow of Okotoks RCMP. “It is one of those two-second things that can dramatically improve your chances of survival if you’re in a collision.”
According to Transport Canada, slightly fewer Albertans use seatbelts compared to the rest of the country. While in Canada, 95 per cent of drivers and passengers buckle up when they get behind the wheel, only 92 per cent of Albertans do so.
In Alberta, the eight per cent of occupants not wearing their seatbelts accounts for almost 40 per cent of fatalities in vehicle collisions, Shardlow said.
“About eight per cent of Albertans are not wearing their seatbelts, so we’re really trying to get through to those people,” said Shardlow.
During the month of March, Okotoks RCMP are planning several check stops aimed at checking for seatbelt use, Shardlow said. They will also be looking specifically at whether drivers are wearing their seatbelts during regular patrols, he added.
If a driver is caught without wearing their seatbelt, they face an automatic $115 ticket, Shardlow said. Drivers can also be fined for passengers who are caught not wearing their seatbelts, with a $115 ticket for each unrestrained passenger.
“The driver is ultimately responsible for everyone in the vehicle,” Shardlow said.
While vehicles today are built with the driver and passenger’s safety in mind — with air bags, collapsible steering columns, padded dashboards, reinforced beams and doors, stronger seats and anchors, and head restraints — Shardlow said those safety devices are designed to work in concert with each other.
“The primary and first line of defence is your seatbelt,” he explained. “The survivability of a collision depends on you staying within your seat and within that engineered life space.”
Shardlow said there is a myth circulating seatbelts can harm you by preventing you from being able to escape if the car catches fire or is immersed under water during a collision.
“That’s just ridiculous,” he said. “The likelihood of you even surviving the initial collision without wearing your seatbelt is incredibly low.”
Shardlow said he has come upon many fatal vehicle collisions where an occupant could have survived if they were only wearing their seatbelt.
“We are tired of having to go tell parents that your child didn’t make it,” he said. “It’s a horrible thing to have to do when it is so preventable.”
According to the Alberta Motor Association, using seatbelts reduces the risk of death by 40 to 50 per cent and reduces the risk of serious injury by 45 to 55 per cent.
The seatbelt initiative is part of the RCMP’s Selective Traffic Enforcement Plan, a program which sees enforcement officers devoting certain months of the year to promoting a different area of traffic safety. The program aims to promote traffic safety, education and prevent serious and dangerous traffic infractions.
