Annual fall seatbelt campaign begins

The Ministry of Transportation, along with the Seat Belt Committee of Ontario, the OPP, and police services across the province, today launched the fall seatbelt campaign.
The campaign, which runs Sept. 22-30, is reminding all drivers and passengers to buckle up.
Eight percent of Ontarians, or close to one million people, do not wear a seatbelt.
Wearing a seatbelt is the single-most effective thing people can do to protect themselves and other passengers in motor vehicle collisions. A one percent increase in seatbelt use saves five lives.
Everyone riding in a car, van, or truck is required to wear a seatbelt.
Under Ontario’s “one person, one seatbelt” law, passengers 16 years and older who don’t wear a seatbelt face a fine of $110.
Drivers who fail to ensure young passengers are properly secured in a seatbelt, booster seats, or child car seats, or who use them incorrectly, face two demerit points plus a $110 fine.
The campaign reminds drivers to limit the number of occupants in a vehicle to the number of seatbelts.
Unbelted occupants can become projectiles during a collision and can seriously injure themselves, other passengers, or the driver.
Unbelted vehicle occupants involved in fatal or personal injury collisions are nearly 28 times more likely to be killed than belted occupants.
A number of child car safety seat information sessions are being organized across the province to coincide with the fall seatbelt campaign.
Parents and caregivers also can get more information on proper installation of child car safety seats by logging onto Ontario’s Smart Love website at www.ontario.ca/smartlove or contacting the ServiceOntario Transportation Info Line at 1-800-268-4686.
Ontario’s road safety partners participating in the fall seatbelt campaign (police who hold seatbelt safety blitzes, volunteers who conduct seatbelt surveys, and community groups that organize child car safety seat clinics) are working together to spread the message that seatbelts and child car safety seats save lives.