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economist sunsuntribune police saturday may 7 2005 11 region police team up to get people to buckle up by martin derbyshire staff writer york regional police traf fic bureau staffsgt tom carrique says hes always surprised in todays day and age there are still people out there who dont wear seattbelts a lot of people are out there getting these new vehicles with front side airbags the latest antilock brake technology and side impact bars they have very little effect when you fail to wear a seatbelt he said there are three major contributing factors in colli sions causing death alco hol speed and seatbelts you cant do anything about another driver speeding or someone else getting behind the wheel after theyve been drinking but you can always put your seatbelt on and make sure its on properly what doesnt surprise staff sgt carrique is where police are finding the most drivers who havent buckled up thanks to research from the region of york police know just where these offenders are the regions transporta tion and works department does monthly spot checks at intersections throughout the region counting the number of drivers and pas sengers without seatbelts from march 2004 to march 2005 regional staff watched 13531 people drive through those spot checks they found 11766 87 per cent wearing seat- belts they also break down the statistics by municipality newmarket residents topped the list with 919 per cent wearing seatbelts fol lowed by markham 917 vaughan 913 east gwillimbury 922- king 903 whitchurch-stouf- fville 897 georgina 894 and aurora 883 targeting areas with the lowest rates york cops set up a number of seatbelt spot checks in april as a part of its spring campaign ajfg jsz winertiakers wnnit fourcourse gourmet dinner with dompiimentary cave springs vintages- i 25 reception r 630pm dinner 700pm to make a reservation pie call 9058870090 ext 705 or email tstevensangusglencom wwwangusglencom ilk fm windows doors ess watch for our flyer in seven hundred and forty seven people were charged with not wearing their seat- belts or failing- to ensure passengers under 16 were properly secured the number of charges jumped from 349 last year because police specifically targeted areas using the regions statistics in 2003 georginas seat- belt compliance percentage was in the low 80s but after being targeted by police the number jumped to 894 per cent this year proving the effective ness of targeting enforce ment sgt carrique said but anything less than 100 per cent is unacceptable when you look at the num ber of people who have died or been seriously injured- because they havent buck led up properly sgt car- rique said over the past five years 24 people have died in york region as a result of colli sions where not wearing a seatbelt was a contributing factor last year 8 per cent of all traffic deaths and 15 per cent off all lifethreatening injuries in collisions could be traced to seatbelt mis use and nonlise it is a 110 fine for not properly buckling up staff photosteve somerville staffsgt tom carrique continues to be surprised at the number of people who refuse to buckle up when they get in a vehicle selected areas