While getting road users to be 100 per cent compliant with seat belt laws remains a challenging goal, the OPP sees motorists taking a step in the right direction with 2014 seat belt-related fatalities on track to being the lowest in 10 years.
The OPP keeps close watch on its collision and enforcement data as it serves as an important yardstick for assessing how the OPP is doing with its combined traffic enforcement and education initiatives, as well as how motorists are doing with traffic law compliance.
Looking at ten years of collision data (2005-2014), over 100 people died each year from 2005 to 2007 in collisions where lack of seat belt compliance was a contributing factor and the number has stayed below the 100 mark since then. When looking at more recent data, a total of 73 people died in collisions due to non-compliance with seat belt laws last year (2013) – the year that saw the second lowest fatality rate over the past ten years (the lowest number of fatalities was 68 in 2009). This year’s seat belt-related fatalities currently sit at 32 (as of September 21).
