The RCMP is using an unusual traffic stop to promote SGI鈥檚 monthly traffic safety focus on passenger restraints.
Last week a Prince Albert traffic officer was patrolling south of the city when a pickup truck travelling at a high rate of speed passed him on Highway 2. When he stopped the vehicle, he found it was carrying 17 people, including three adults, one youth and 10 children in the main cab and three children in the box of the truck.
鈥淪eatbelts save lives,鈥� noted an SGI press release. 鈥淭hey can decrease the chances of sustaining a serious injury in a traffic crash by as much as fifty per cent.鈥�
Eugene Brown of Arcola, Saskatchewan, learned that first hand. Just after Christmas 2013 Brown and his two sons were northbound on the Ring Road in Regina when the driver of a southbound car lost control, crossed the median and crashed into Brown鈥檚 truck.
鈥淎t the rate we crashed, we would have gone through the windshield if we weren鈥檛 wearing seatbelts,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was a hard lesson to learn; it rattled me.鈥�
鈥淚n 2013, improper or non-seatbelt use contributed to a total of 27 deaths and 204 injuries in the province,鈥� the release stated. 鈥淣inety-one of those injuries and three of those deaths were children under the age of seven. Seven of the children injured were not restrained at all or were improperly restrained. In addition, 29 of the injured children were belted by a seatbelt that may have been inappropriate.鈥�
During March police across the province will be paying particular attention to the proper use of seatbelts and child restraint systems.
SGI is also reminding motorists that as of June 2014, child booster seats are required for all children under seven years of age, less than 145 cm (4鈥�9鈥�) in height and 36 kg (80 lb.) in weight.
The penalty for not wearing a seatbelt or improperly restraining a child is $175 plus three demerit points.
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