40 years after law, a few still not buckling up
Watching two straw-stuffed canvas dummies bounce around inside a truck sure makes you appreciate a seatbelt.
In a simulated rollover at 50 kilometres an hour, the impact sends the dummies flying out of the windows within the first rotation or two.
But, wearing seatbelts, the affectionately dubbed Bella and Belton are held firmly in their seats — although a bit of straw stuffing does leave the cab.
“Even with a seatbelt, you’re going to get pretty shaken up,” said SGI spokesman Tyler McMurchy. “But many times a seatbelt is often the difference between life and death when you’re in any kind of a rollover.”
Saturday marks 40 years since Saskatchewan implemented seatbelt laws, but still not everybody uses them.
According to Transport Canada statistics, 93 per cent of Saskatchewan people regularly wear a seatbelt.
Luckily, McMurchy’s sister was one of them 11 years ago, when she survived a winter highway rollover that involved a friend and a baby in the back seat.
“My sister said if they hadn’t been wearing their seatbelt, she’s sure she would have flown out the window, because everything else that wasn’t strapped down did. The two grown-ups walked away from that and the baby was unharmed because they were all properly restrained,” said McMurchy.
“This is a pretty vivid example of what happens to somebody if they’re in a vehicle (rollover) and they’re not wearing their seatbelt.
“The small minority of people who still choose not to buckle up — really, rethink that decision,” added McMurchy. “It’s three seconds and it will save your life.”
Single-vehicle rollovers are the most common type of fatality for people not wearing their seatbelts. In 2016, 25 people who died were not wearing a seatbelt, accounting for 27 per cent of collision fatalities.
With seatbelts required in all new vehicles in Canada in 1971, Saskatchewan was the third province to mandate seatbelt use in 1977, after Ontario and Quebec.
At that time, only drivers, frontseat passengers and children were required to wear a seatbelt. The rule didn’t extend to all passengers until 1980.
In the law’s first year, only one in four people used their seatbelt. That jumped to 57 per cent in 1978.
Wearing a seatbelt will “reduce your chance of being injured or killed by about 50 per cent,” said McMurchy.
Even so, seatbelt use today remains an issue in rural areas and on First Nations, according to Transport Canada.
SGI’s Safety Squad brings its simulator to events across the province in attempts of raising that number. The machine operates similar to a carnival ride, with a truck cab quickly spinning to mimic a vehicle rollover.
Thousands of seatbelt tickets are issued in Saskatchewan every year, which means a fine and loss of safety rating points for drivers. If a passenger under age 16 is not buckled up, the driver gets a ticket for them, too.
It is also drivers’ responsibility to properly restrain children in vehicles.
Three years ago, booster seats were made mandatory for children younger than seven, shorter than four-foot-nine, and weighing 80 pounds or less.
SGI has car seat technicians across the province. For more information, visit sgi.sk.ca.
With the Canada Day long weekend ahead, McMurchy encourages drivers to be safe:
In addition to wearing a seatbelt, they should respect construction zones, take time to get where they’re going, and not drink and drive.
“It’s Canada’s 150th birthday and everybody’s very excited about that and people will be heading to the lake or heading to celebrations,” he said. “We want to make sure everybody gets there safe and sound.”