Buckle up: OPP remind drivers and passengers to wear a seatbelt
Posted Aug 4, 2025 11:13:41 AM.
Last Updated Aug 4, 2025 11:55:07 AM.
OPP are reminding drivers and passengers that wearing a seatbelt not only saves lives, it’s the law, after several charges were laid over the weekend.
On Sunday evening, an OPP officer stopped a vehicle that almost collided with the cruiser on Campeau Drive in Ottawa.
The officer immediately noticed that there was an infant in a bassinet in the front seat that was not belted in.
The driver was issued a $240 fine.
Earlier in the day the same OPP officer observed a four-year-old child walking around on the backseat of a moving vehicle.
That driver was also issued a $240 charge.
These incidents follow another occurrence on Saturday when a driver was issued over $500 in fines for speeding and for carrying a nine-year-old passenger without a seatbelt.
In Ontario, it is the responsibility of the driver to ensure that all passengers under the age of 16 are properly buckled up.
“Wearing a seatbelt while in a moving vehicle is not a choice. Infants and small children rely on their parents to help them buckle up properly,” OPP said in a post on X.
According to a Transport Canada survey, 96 per cent of Ontarians use their seatbelt. But that high compliance rate still hasn’t eliminated tragedy.
According to the Ontario Road Safety Annual Report, nearly one in five vehicle occupants killed on the province’s roads were unbelted.
In 2021 — the most recent year for which data is available — Ontario saw 6,203 convictions for failure to wear a seatbelt.
