Ontario Provincial Police is kicking off their annual fall seatbelt campaign.
Officers will be out on patrol and conducting seat belt checks starting Wednesday morning. Sgt. Kerry Schmidt says the seatbelt is the first thing people should put on when they get inside their vehicle.
Drivers caught not wearing a seatbelt will face a fine of $240 and two demerit points.
“It’s the best piece of insurance. It’s going to keep you in position so that you can take advantage of all the other safety systems in place in the vehicle,” said Schmidt.
So far in 2018, 34 people have died on Ontario roadways in collisions where the driver or passengers were not properly buckled up.
“It’s such a simple thing and yet people still neglect to put it on,” said Schmidt.
Police say about 93 per cent of people do wear their seatbelt but the 7 per cent who don’t, account for 40 per cent of the fatalities on the roadways.