On Friday, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) and comedian and spokesperson Mario Jean kicked off the 3rd edition of the Opération ceinture, or Operation Seat Belt, a vast campaign whose goal is to increase the rate of seat belt use in the province of Québec.
Under the slogan “Attachez-vous à la vie” (buckle up for life), the operation is coordinated by the Service de la sécurité routière et récréotouristique of the SQ in collaboration with the SAAQ and the Ministry of Transport of Quebec.
From June 7 to 13, the officers of the SQ will be monitoring seat belt use all over Quebec. In fact, though wearing your seat belt has been mandatory in Quebec for several years now, statistics show that drivers are increasingly forgoing this simple safety measure.
According to Johanne Saint-Cyr, SAAQ vice-president of road safety, “over 7% of motorists do not wear their seat belts while driving. Around 60 deaths could have been prevented in 2008 alone if everyone would have worn their seat belt. The situation is even worse with drivers under 35, as 40.3% of the young drivers that died in a road accident weren’t wearing their seat belt”.
To increase awareness in this demographic, the campaign includes the distribution of a humorous flier. The flier draws a parallel between rock climbing and buckling up. In the same way that people practicing such a sport are required to wear safety equipment, road users should always buckle their seat belt.
Remember, failing to wear your seat belt is a breach of the Road Safety Code. While it is only punishable by an $80 fine, any driver or passenger over 16 with a driver’s license also receives three demerit points.
Under the slogan “Attachez-vous à la vie” (buckle up for life), the operation is coordinated by the Service de la sécurité routière et récréotouristique of the SQ in collaboration with the SAAQ and the Ministry of Transport of Quebec.
From June 7 to 13, the officers of the SQ will be monitoring seat belt use all over Quebec. In fact, though wearing your seat belt has been mandatory in Quebec for several years now, statistics show that drivers are increasingly forgoing this simple safety measure.
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| Photo: Jupiter Images |
According to Johanne Saint-Cyr, SAAQ vice-president of road safety, “over 7% of motorists do not wear their seat belts while driving. Around 60 deaths could have been prevented in 2008 alone if everyone would have worn their seat belt. The situation is even worse with drivers under 35, as 40.3% of the young drivers that died in a road accident weren’t wearing their seat belt”.
To increase awareness in this demographic, the campaign includes the distribution of a humorous flier. The flier draws a parallel between rock climbing and buckling up. In the same way that people practicing such a sport are required to wear safety equipment, road users should always buckle their seat belt.
Remember, failing to wear your seat belt is a breach of the Road Safety Code. While it is only punishable by an $80 fine, any driver or passenger over 16 with a driver’s license also receives three demerit points.