March Traffic Safety Tips: Seatbelts

Published 2026-03-06

Dear Traffic Safety Stakeholder: Before every trip, make sure everyone in your vehicle is buckled up, as it could mean the difference between walking away from a crash or never

Dear Traffic Safety Stakeholder:

Before every trip, make sure everyone in your vehicle is buckled up, as it could mean the difference between walking away from a crash or never making it home.

Before setting out on the road, make sure you and your passengers, including children, are properly secured. It is one of the simplest and most effective ways to reduce the risk of serious injury or death in a motor vehicle collision.

Wearing a seatbelt is mandatory and remains one of the best ways drivers and passengers can protect themselves. Not wearing a seatbelt is a contributing factor to injuries and increases the likelihood of fatalities. When worn properly, seatbelts can increase the chances of surviving a serious collision by up to 50 per cent.

Child safety seats offer critical protection for young passengers. When properly fitted and installed, they distribute the force of a collision across the stronger parts of a child’s body, significantly increasing the likelihood of survival.

Drivers are responsible for ensuring that they and all passengers, especially children under the age of 16, are properly secured before every trip. Make buckling up second nature: every seat, every passenger, every time.

Quick facts

Between 2019 to 2023, 217 Albertans involved in fatal collisions were not using seatbelts or child safety seats.
About one fifth (19.4 per cent) of those fatalities were young adults aged 18 to 24.
Approximately 97 per cent of Albertans use seatbelts and child safety seats regularly; however, usage is lower in rural Alberta.
Research indicates that properly used child safety seats can reduce the risk of serious injury by around 60 to 80 per cent and substantially reduce the risk of fatal injury.
Seatbelts increase your chance of surviving a collision by up to 50 per cent.
In Alberta, children under the age of six who weigh 18 kilograms (40 pounds) or less must be in a child safety seat.
Drivers are responsible for ensuring that all passengers under the age of 16 are properly secured using either a child safety seat or seatbelt.
Drivers may be fined $162 for each unrestrained passenger under the age of 16.
Passengers 16 years of age and older not properly secured in a vehicle can be fined.
In 2023-24, there were over 9,100 convictions in Alberta for failing to properly use a seatbelt or child safety seat.
Children under the age of 13 are safest in the back seat of a vehicle in proper restraints based on their age, height, and weight.
Correctly sized restraints for children under age six are based on the child’s size (height and weight) and the maximum height and weight limits of their child safety seat.
In Alberta, all drivers and passengers must be properly secured in the vehicle with a seatbelt or an approved child safety seat attached by a seatbelt or anchor system.

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