Seat belt blitz starting across Sask

Saskatchewan motorists are being reminded to buckle up during a three month intensive seat belt enforcement campaign.

The province wide Click It or Ticket Seat Spring 2008 Campaign will run from April thru June.

Statistically, provincial motorists are not utilizing seat belts, which are proven life-savers. There were 61 fatalities to unbelted occupants in 2007, or 50 per cent of the total collision fatalities in rural Saskatchewan. The statistics show that, in the last three years, rural Saskatchewan has experienced approximately 18 seatbelt related fatalities each year in the months of April, May and June.

Many seat belt related fatalities and serious injuries are the result of a single vehicle rollovers. In 2006, 3,673 people were involved in a single vehicle rollover as an occupant of a vehicle in Saskatchewan.

When seat belts are not used, 11.2 per cent of occupants are killed and 17.4 per cent are seriously injured. When seat belts are used, 1.2 per cent of occupants are killed and 5.9 per cent are seriously injured. An occupant has a 91 per cent chance of surviving a single vehicle rollover with minor to moderate injuries when wearing a seat belt, compared to 70 per cent chance if they are not wearing a seat belt.

Not all injuries can be prevented by wearing a seat belt, however the severity of injuries is normally greatly reduced. Although 99 per cent of single vehicle rollovers occur in the rural area of the province, this does not necessarily mean that all of the victims are residents of rural Saskatchewan.

Transport Canada reports that the Saskatchewan rural seat belt wear rate in 2006 was 82.8 per cent.

"This is simply not good enough and as a result, too many people are needlessly dying and being seriously injured," said Inspector Don Ross, Officer in Charge of RCMP "F" Division Traffic Services. "Consequently we are partnering with SGI and the municipal police forces in Saskatchewan to run the third "Click It or Ticket" seatbelt enforcement campaign.

"This devastation is so senseless - and so easily remedied by taking a few seconds to attach the belt," explained Darryl Hickie, Minister of Corrections, Public Safety and Policing. "Yet, police are still being called to accident scenes where occupants are injured or killed because they neglected to make that one simple 'click'."