Road safety blitz

Police in Hamilton and across the province are ramping up road safety enforcement for the Easter long weekend.

Officers want to remind drivers that staying safe means saving lives and are calling on people to slow down this long weekend.

“Calls for service will be a little bit less, officers will be out there looking for traffic enforcement, speeding’s the big one.” says Claus Wagner from the Hamilton Police

Police are also pushing people to remember to buckle up.

Accoridng to Kerry Schmidt from the Ontario Provincial Police. “The seatbelt will keep you inside the vehicle, inside the safety cage, prevent you from being ejected.”

Hamilton and Provincial Police have launched traffic safety blitzes, increasing enforcement.

Drivers will see more ride checks, more speeding checks and more vehicle safety checks throughout the city and the across the province.

Police in Halton and Niagara say they have no specific plans to up enforcement over the long weekend.

This is the 10th time that Hamilton police have held it’s annual traffic safety blitz and they say it’s paying off with more people buckling up.

Not wearing a seatbelt could get you a maximum fine of $1000.

“It’s just second nature nowadays for most drivers to get in the car and buckle up, it’s the very first thing they do.” says Wagner.

Officers will also be making sure vehicles are safe for the road.

“We have people still on their winter tires, we got rain today, winter tires don’t act the same when it comes to rain.” says ???

The blitz runs until Monday.