car seats & seat belts save lives

This is not a new statement. This should be common knowledge. Many of the people reading my blog have probably always known that it is illegal to ride in a vehicle without a seat belt.

January 1, 2011, Ontario celebrated the 35th anniversary of the seatbelt law.

Before the law was put into effect, only 17% of people wore seatbelts. And today, nearly 93% of Ontarian buckle up.*

The fact that there are people who still don’t wear a seltbelt is beyond me. I’ve been using a seltbelt for so long, that it’s instinctual to get in a car and put it on.

Annual Seatbelt Campaign

Starting Wednesday, April 13, 2011, the OPP and municipal police services, will be stepping up their seat belt enforcement, with a focus on child restraints (car seats).

The OPP will be focusing their efforts on child restraints during this campaign to raise awareness about the need to properly restrain children in a vehicle. A properly used child seat reduces a child’s risk of injury in a crash by as much as 75 per cent, yet many child car seats are incorrectly used or improperly installed.

When used correctly, a booster seat provides 60 per cent more protection than a seatbelt alone. In a collision, children using seatbelts instead of booster seats are three and a half times more likely to suffer significant injury, and four times more likely to suffer head injury. **

And to help make sure that care givers are using their car seats properly, OPP, Ontario Police Services, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, and other road safety partners (including me) will be holding a