Buckle up this Easter long weekend, warns OPP

This Easter long weekend, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is encouraging all motorists to buckle up as it conducts a seatbelt safety campaign.

"In the last full five-year period (2019-2023), the deaths of 296 people on OPP-patrolled roads have been attributed to not wearing a seatbelt," says an OPP news release.

In 2023, 67 fatalities on OPP-patrolled roads were attributed to seatbelts not being worn and officers laid close to 10,000 seatbelt charges.

"Attending the scene of a fatal collision is one of the most difficult calls for service that our frontline officers and emergency partners respond to. More often than not, if seatbelts had been worn, lives would have been saved," says OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique in the release. "Wearing a seatbelt and ensuring children are properly restrained gives you and your family the best chance of surviving and reducing injuries if you are involved in a collision. Please buckle up."

The OPP patrols more than 130,000 km of roadway and over 99,000 km of water­ways and trails throughout Ontario.