Stricter Seatbelt Laws

In May 2007, stiffer fines for not wearing seatbelts came into effect in British Columbia. Fines increased from $138 to $167 for the following infractions by a driver:

Not wearing a seatbelt;
Permitting a passenger to not wear a seatbelt;
Operating a vehicle without seatbelts;
Operating a vehicle with inoperative seatbelts;
Operating a vehicle while more than one person is in a seat;
Operating a vehicle while a person is not seated;
Operating a vehicle while a person is riding on the vehicle;
Operating a vehicle with too many seats;
Failing to remain seated;
Failing to be the only occupant of the seat.

Separate fines can also be imposed on passengers over the age of 16 years who fail to buckle up or who fail to remain seated or who share a seat—that is, who commit any of the above listed infractions not specifically limited to the operator of the vehicle. The driver will be the only one fined where unrestrained passengers are 16 years of age or younger.

In response to the number of accidents in which many farm workers died while being transported in overcrowded vans, a new fine of $598 targets employers or owners of vehicles for any of the following:

Requiring or allowing a vehicle to be operated with inoperative seatbelts;
Requiring or allowing a vehicle to be operated with too many people in the vehicle
Requiring or allowing a vehicle to be operated with too many seats.

In these circumstances the driver of such a vehicle can also be fined $311.

The amounts of these fines are arithmetically odd, un-rounded amounts because they include the 15% victim surcharge levy prescribed by regulation under the BC Victims of Crime Act. This amount of each fine goes into a separate account to fund services for victims of crimes involving motor vehicles. Tickets paid within 30 days are reduced by $25.

Recent events prompted this change in seat belt laws. Ejection of unbelted occupants from vehicles still occurs with surprising frequency and often with fatal results. These days it’s increasingly difficult to understand why someone would decide not to buckle up—with all the high-tech reminders, forgetting to buckle-up is hardly possible. It implies failure to pay attention, or even impairment.

The debates about effectiveness and the objections on principle to occupant protection laws are over. Safety belts are “ the device that provides the most benefit to the largest number of occupants…reducing car driver fatality risk in a crash by 42%…increased by 47% [in combination with] frontal airbags” according to traffic safety statistics expert, Dr. Leonard Evans. And it is clear that unrestrained individuals impose costs on others in the form of medical and rescue resources expended.

While society does subsidize lots of other risk takers, Professor Evans says that by comparison “the costs imposed by “belt non-wearers” are enormous”.

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