‘Buckle up:’ Ontario safety blitz issues more than 1,600 seatbelt tickets over holiday weekend [Video]

The OPP is reminding drivers and passengers to buckle up after a seatbelt blitz across Ontario over the Easter long weekend resulted in more than 11,000 tickets issued, including 1,631 for not wearing a seatbelt.

Officers were busy over the holiday weekend focusing on their traffic safety campaign with a special emphasis on seatbelts, the “primary contributing factor” in 60 deaths on the roads last year, said OPP Coordinator Sgt. Kerry Schmidt.

“It’s a significant piece of insurance and it’s there to keep you safe and to keep you alive,” Schmidt said. “It is the best thing you can do stay safe in the event of a collision.”

In the GTA there were 640 seatbelt tickets issued during the weekend blitz, evidence that drivers are still not getting the message about Ontario’s mandatory seat belt law, which went into effect in 1976 – nearly 50 years ago.

A 10-year data …