Seatbelts, car seats are SGI’s February traffic spotlight

SGI’s February traffic spotlight is occupant restraints, meaning this month police will keep a special eye out for those who don’t wear their seatbelts or properly buckle up kids in car seats.

Josh Campbell knows the importance of wearing a seatbelt.

On the evening of Dec. 13, 2014, he was driving home from a recreational hockey league game in Pense when he hit a patch of ice on a road south of Regina and collided with a semi on Highway 1.

In an attempt to avoid the crash, he cranked his steering wheel in the other direction. But still, Campbell struck one of the truck’s tires. The point of impact sent him and his Honda Fit spinning hundreds of feet in the other direction, and his head smashing through the driver’s side window.

While his vehicle was totaled, the father of two emerged with only minor injuries: a sprained ankle and some glass in his ear.

“They cut me out with the jaws of life and I just walked onto the ambulance. The paramedic was like, ‘When I see a car like that, I don’t see people walking onto my ambulance. That doesn’t happen very often,'” Campbell remembered. “I was just in shock.”

Looking back just over four years later, Campbell believes part of the reason why he wasn’t more severely hurt — or killed — is because he was wearing his seatbelt.

“If I hadn’t of had that seatbelt on, I probably would have ended up in the middle of the field or underneath the semi. Who knows?” he said.

Now, Campbell’s urging others to buckle up because he knows the life-saving impact it can have.

“We’re not invincible. Life is so fragile and precious,” he said. “It’s good to be alive — no matter what. It’s a gift to have life.”

In 2017, 16 people were killed and 148 others injured in Saskatchewan, all because they weren’t properly restrained by a seatbelt during a crash.

“Hundreds of people every month are still getting tickets for seatbelts, and it’s one of those things that you look at and you think, ‘What’s it going to take to make it click for people?'” said Tyler McMurchy, who’s with SGI.

Last year in the province, more than 4,700 tickets were issued because people weren’t wearing seatbelts or using the appropriate car seat for their kids.

Those caught not wearing a seatbelt or driving with a child improperly restrained will get a $175 ticket. It’ll also cost the recipient three points under the Safe Driver Recognition program.