A spokesman for the OPP says he is hopeful that it's a sign that education campaigns are working.
Provincial police say there were fewer violations during their long weekend seatbelt blitz. The campaign ran from Good Friday to Easter Monday, and Sgt. David Rektor says 784 seatbelt tickets were handed out across the province.
That's down from 1,196 during last year's blitz.
"We're hopefully optimistic that voluntary compliance is the reason," Rektor says. "We've really worked hard at education and enforcement. But the education component with our media partners has been very exhaustive over the past number of years, and hopefully we're just starting to see some of the benefits of that now."
In addition to seatbelt enforcement, officers took time to educate passengers and drivers who weren't buckled up.
"The bottom line is that seat belts save lives. Wearing one should be as normal as breathing," Rektor says.
As for why some people weren't wearing seatbelts, police say two of the most common excuses involved people wondering what would happen it their car went into water or caught fire.
**This story was written by Kayley Leon, a student in the Media, Theory, and Production program at Western University. Kayley is currently performing an internship with BlackburnNews.com**
