Don't say we didn't warn you about this. Because we did!

OPP NEWS RELEASE

************************** Ontario Provincial Police launches annual province-wide campaign

SAULT STE. MARIE, ON. - All 165 Ontario Provincial Police detachments in the province, including the Sault Ste. Marie OPP Detachment will be participating in the annual spring seatbelt safety campaign.

The campaign, which began today, runs through Sunday, April 27.

Last year, 117 people were killed on roads patrolled by the OPP as a result of not being buckled up, a 14.7 per cent increase over 2006.

So far in 2008, 19 people not wearing seatbelts have died on OPP-patrolled roads province-wide.

“It takes less than five seconds to fasten your seatbelt,” Julian Fantino said. “That five seconds could be the difference between living and dying in you are involved in a serious collision. There is no excuse for not buckling up.”

The OPP will also be looking for improperly installed child restraints or young children who aren’t in car seats at all.

Municipal police services across the province are also involved in the seatbelt campaign.

A properly used child seat reduces a child’s risk of injury in a motor vehicle collision by as much as 75 per cent, yet as many as 80 per cent of child car seats are used incorrectly.

Bill 73, passed in December 2004, made booster seats mandatory for anyone transporting a child weighing between 40-80 pounds (18-36 kilograms), under four-feet-nine-inches (145 centimetres) tall and under the age of eight.

Locally, the Sault Ste. Marie detachment’s primary goal is to achieve a 97 percent compliance rate through education and proactive enforcement to encourage voluntary compliance.

The public needs to be reminded that one death or needless injury as a result of failure to wear a seatbelt is a preventable event that effects everyone.

“A person has a much better chance of surviving a serious collision if they are wearing a seatbelt,” Staff Sergeant Wes Moore, of the Sault Ste. Marie OPP Detachment, said. “For every one percent increase in seatbelt compliance rates in Ontario, five lives are saved per year."

Buckle up.

For everyone's sake.

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