Transportation and Public Works

Seat Belts Dec. 6, 2004

December 6, 2004
Not buckling up has a price
By Wayne Thibodeau, The Guardian

Driving without wearing a seatbelt is going to get a lot more costly as the Prince Edward Island government passes some of the toughest laws in the country to force people to buckle up.

In the provincial legislature Wednesday, lawmakers agreed to double the fines and introduce loss of demerit points for people caught not wearing a seatbelt — one of only two provinces in the country to take off demerit points for not wearing a seat belt.

Transportation Minister Gail Shea said she hopes the changes will send a strong message to Islanders that not wearing a seatbelt is against the law.

The other message, said Shea, is that seatbelts save lives.

“The numbers speak for themselves,” Shea said.

“We’ve had quite a number of accidents this year where drivers were not wearing their seatbelts. Had they been wearing their seatbelts, some of those people may be with us today.”

The fines for not wearing a seatbelt will double to $200 once the changes go into effect. There will also be three demerit points lost to a driving record.

While Prince Edward Island may be leading the charge by taking demerit points for failure to wear a seatbelt, it may not be the last.

Shea said she has been contacted by a number of other provinces who say they’ll be watching to see if stiffer fines force people to buckle up.

“Several other jurisdictions are watching what P.E.I. is doing,” she said.

The change was one of three significant revisions to the Highway Traffic Act Wednesday.

The province is also getting tougher with people suspected of driving while impaired.

Now, if somebody refuses the roadside screening device, his or her licence will be suspended for 24 hours.

Shea explained there is nothing stopping somebody who refuses the roadside screening device from being brought home and getting back into the car and driving again. She said the new, 24-hour suspension will ensure that somebody suspected of being impaired will not get behind the wheel.

Nearly half of the people pulled over by police and asked to take the roadside screening device refuse.

Richard Brown, MLA for Charlottetown-Kings Square, said he’s not surprised. He said if somebody knew they were impaired, they would rather not have their blood-alcohol level recorded.

“I’d rather have in the paper refused the breathalyser rather (than) have .25,” he said.

The other change is to protect emergency service staff, including police, ambulance attendants and firefighters when they are responding to an emergency on P.E.I. roads.

The new law states that posted speed limits must be cut in half when a driver is approaching or passing an emergency vehicle parked on the road with its lights on and to move into another lane of traffic, if it can be done safely.

As an example, if a driver was travelling along the road at a posted 80 km-h and he sees an ambulance parked on the side of the road, the law now requires him to reduce his speed to at least 40 km-h.