Hundreds of charges were laid by provincial police over the Easter long weekend, cracking down on improper seatbelt use.
As part of the OPP’s recent highway safety campaign, 168 charges were laid across the West Region area. That compares to a five-year high of 338 seatbelt-related charges laid during last year’s campaign.
From April 3-6, officers in Elgin County and Chatham-Kent laid a total of 16 charges related to seatbelt use. Another 75 charges were laid for speeding during that timeframe, and three for distracted driving.
By comparison, Lambton County officers laid 11 seatbelt-related charges, 71 speeding charges, and four distracted driving charges.
Along with aggressive driving, impaired driving, distracted driving and driver fatigue, authorities say failure to wear a seatbelt is one of the leading contributing factors to death, injury, and property damage on the province’s roads and highways.
Authorities say failure to wear a seatbelt caused, or was a contributing factor, in the deaths of 41 Ontarians in collisions on OPP-patrolled roads last year, with 14 of those deaths taking place in the West Region alone.