The Société de l’assurance car du Québec (SAAQ) is marking 50 years since seat belts turned obligatory within the province, highlighting their function in decreasing street fatalities and renewing efforts to encourage compliance amongst motorists.
Since 1976, seat belt use has turn into widespread throughout Quebec, however the company says that almost one-third of occupants killed in passenger automobile collisions are nonetheless not buckled up every year. The requirement was prolonged to backseat passengers in 1990.
SAAQ estimates that roughly 4,500 deaths might have been prevented since 1976 if all automobile occupants had worn seat belts.
“Although a lot progress has been made, the numbers converse for themselves. Each one who doesn’t buckle up is taking far too nice a threat,” mentioned SAAQ president and CEO Serge Lamontagne. “To mark this fiftieth anniversary, we’ll proceed our consciousness efforts throughout our varied platforms over the following month to point out the concrete penalties of not carrying a seat belt.”
The company says long-term collaboration with Quebec police forces, together with collision report evaluation, has helped monitor adjustments in seat belt use over time.
The speed of non-use in deadly collisions has dropped considerably over the previous 50 years, from 73 per cent in 1978 to twenty-eight per cent in 2025. Roadside surveys present general compliance has risen from 50 per cent within the early Nineteen Eighties to 98 per cent in 2022.
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