Excessive speed, lack of seatbelts main cause of Quebec road accidents in 2015

MONTREAL – The number of deaths on Quebec roads jumped from 216 in 2014 to 245 last year.

While that may be an increase from one year to the next, the Sûreté du Québec said that the number of fatal accidents is actually going down.

“We’re still seeing a tendency to decrease the number of collisions, meaning that this year we’re about 10 per cent under the average of the last five years,” said SQ Sgt. Jason Allard.

According to the SQ’s yearly review, about a quarter of deadly crashes are due to excessive speed.

The second most common factor was driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs; victims were not wearing seatbelts in a fifth of fatal accidents in Quebec.

Officials insisted obeying the law is the best, most obvious way to stay safe.

“This year, we have 42 people who died not wearing a safety belt,” said Allard, adding that mandatory seatbelts have been law since 1976.

“We know by fact that 50 per cent of people wearing a safety belt will survive a crash where they normally would have died.”

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Despite public awareness campaigns, it seems the message may still not be getting through.

It’s something CAA-Quebec spokesperson Anne-Sophie Hamel finds baffling.

“What we see from those numbers is that there’s still a message that needs to be put out there,” she said.

“What we thought was something that people do instinctively when they go in their cars, is not.”

The number of victims aged 16-24 went down significantly from 70 to 43.

“There’s a lot of measures that have been put forward over the past few years, like implementing progressive drivers licenses, the number of demerit points they’re allowed to have, zero tolerance for alcohol,” said Allard.

“We’ve been doing a lot of education and prevention in schools. So, I think we’re finally seeing the fruit of that labour that’s been going over the past few years.”