Seatbelt use by Alberta drivers and passengers has increased markedly over the past decade – resulting in safer and better-protected motorists while at the same time reducing the overall cost to the community at large.
Last week the province announced that more than 95 per cent of Alberta drivers and passengers now wear seatbelts, up from 69 per cent in 1999. As well, since 2007 unbelted fatalities have been reduced by almost 25 per cent.
“There is no doubt that seatbelts save lives, so we're encouraging that last five per cent to join us all in making our roads safer for everyone,” said Wayne Drysdale, Alberta Minister of Transportation.
No question, this increase in seatbelt use is good news for Alberta.
Yet there are still far too many drivers and passengers, and young people in particular, who ignore the obvious and proven safety benefits of wearing seatbelts.
“Studies show that a significant number of young men between 18 and 24, in the prime of their lives, are still not buckling up,” said Drysdale.
RCMP superintendent Howard Eaton, the officer in charge of traffic services in Alberta added: “About 45 per cent of the fatal collisions we go to involve an unbelted occupant. Too often it's a single vehicle rollover on a rural road with an unbelted young male driver. We need to get this last five per cent to buckle up so that everyone gets home safely.”
From 2007 to 2012, there were 532 unbelted fatalities in Alberta.
As part of ongoing efforts to reduce unbelted fatalities, police officers across the province will be focusing on seatbelt enforcement throughout the month of March, targeting drivers and passengers at checkstops and at random.
Yet if similar past enforcement initiatives are any indication, there will probably be many drivers and passengers caught not using seatbelts while driving and riding in vehicles in Mountain View and Red Deer counties.
The cost of non-compliance with seatbelt use includes not only the grim and tragic injuries suffered by drivers and passengers involved in motor vehicle crashes, but also larger community-wide costs to the health-care and insurance systems.
The recent increase in Alberta seatbelt use is encouraging. Perhaps it's time for the province to encourage seatbelt use even further by making non-compliance a demerit offence?
As things stand today, motorists caught not using seatbelts face fines. If making non-compliance a demerit offence would help reduce the number of Albertans killed or injured in motor vehicle crashes then it is a change that should be considered.
