Seatbelts
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- Statistics show that seatbelts can decrease the chances
of sustaining a serious injury in a traffic crash by
as much as 50%.
- In traffic collisions in Saskatchewan in 2007, those occupants not using safety restraints
were severely or fatally injured 29.5% of
the time, compared to 4.9% of those using
restraints.
- 49 unbelted vehicle occupants were killed in 2008 in
Saskatchewan, which equals 37.1% of vehicle
occupants killed in automobile crashes.
- Seatbelts were not used by 91 of the 474 people seriously injured in 2008.
- 48 people were killed in single vehicle rollovers in 2008. 67% of them were not wearing a seatbelt.
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Seatbelt Usage
Transport Canada conducts observational surveys of seatbelt usage alternating annually between rural and urban communities across Canada. The survey method was captured because of evidence indicating lower usage rates in rural areas. The new overall usage rates are a combination of these urban and rural observations.
The survey results for 2005-2006 report a national average of 90.8 per cent and a rate of 92.9 per cent in Saskatchewan. Although Saskatchewan's overall seatbelt usage rate decreased in 2005-2006 compared to 2004-2005, the province still leads all Canadian provinces with the highest seatbelt usage rate.
Saskatchewan rural seatbelt use (82.5 per cent), as reported by Transport Canada in 2006, was below the national average (88.3 per cent). When compared to the 2004 survey results, the seatbelt usage rate in rural Saskatchewan decreased by 5.6 per cent. Among rural Saskatchewan, the Prince Albert region recorded the highest rate of seatbelt usage (94.6 per cent), while only 63.9 per cent of those surveyed in the Saskatoon-Biggar area were wearing their seatbelts.
Overall Canadian Seatbelt Usage Rate
by Province/Territory
% of all front seat occupants wearing
seatbelts
in light-duty vehicles*
|
2004-2005 |
2005-2006 |
| N.L. & Lab. |
87.0% |
87.2% |
| P.E.I. |
81.4% |
88.2% |
| N.S. |
88.7% |
91.0% |
| N.B. |
85.9% |
87.2% |
| Que. |
90.9% |
91.1% |
| Ont. |
92.1% |
92.1% |
| Man. |
92.1% |
91.3% |
| Sask. |
93.7% |
92.9% |
| Alta. |
82.9% |
83.4% |
| B.C. |
91.6% |
91.7% |
| Y.T. |
81.5% |
86.9% |
| N.W.T. |
75.1% |
80.2% |
| Nu. |
N/A |
N/A |
| Canada |
90.5% |
90.8% |
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Nu.– Nunavut
* Light-duty vehicles include passenger cars, passenger vans and
light trucks
As the following survey shows, seatbelt use is much lower in rural
areas of the province.
Comparison of Rural Canada
Seatbelt Usage by Province
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| Newfoundland and Labrador |
86.3% |
85.0% |
85.4% |
| Prince Edward Island |
76.7% |
66.3% |
95.3% |
| Nova Scotia |
90.5% |
83.6% |
90.4% |
| New Brunswick |
90.6% |
86.5% |
88.9% |
| Quebec |
91.2% |
89.3% |
91.2% |
| Ontario |
85.1% |
87.9% |
89.2% |
| Manitoba |
80.8% |
91.3% |
86.9% |
| Saskatchewan |
85.7% |
88.3% |
82.8% |
| Alberta |
77.3% |
82.5% |
86.3% |
| British Columbia |
79.7% |
86.3% |
87.4% |
| Yukon |
53.9% |
65.9% |
77.9% |
| Northwest Territories |
77.1% |
66.4% |
83.9% |
| Nunavut |
22.9% |
N/A |
N/A |
| Canada |
85.0% |
87.1% |
88.6% |
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Rural Saskatchewan Seatbelt Usage
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| Saskatchewan |
82.5% |
| Weyburn |
93.5% |
| Carnduff |
69.4% |
| Fort Qu’Appelle |
82.2% |
| Regina-Moose Mountain |
88.7% |
| Gravelbourg |
88.2% |
| Eston |
62.2% |
| Swift Current-Moose Jaw |
71.9% |
| Biggar |
70.1% |
| Kerrobert |
59.9% |
| Saskatoon-Biggar |
63.9% |
| Melville |
85.8% |
| Yorkton-Melville |
85.8% |
| Melfort |
91.9% |
| Hudson Bay |
94.3% |
| Nipawin |
96.7% |
| Prince Albert |
94.6% |
| Creighton |
77.6% |
| Northern |
77.6% |
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Statistics provided by Transport Canada (http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/).
SGI is a part of Road
Safety Vision 2010 (RSV 2010), a national effort at making Canada's
roads the safest in the world. SGI has set a goal, in line with
RSV 2010, to have 95 per cent of people in the province using seatbelts by the year 2010.
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