The number of fatalities involving occupants not wearing their seatbelt has seen an increase over the same time last year.

RCMP spokesperson Paul Manaigre, though wearing a seatbelt will not prevent every fatality, based upon observations from traffic analysts, there are a lot of collisions where people could have survived, had they only been wearing their seatbelt.

"A lot of these collisions, from this year, from what I've been writing [media releases] about, a lot of these vehicles are rolling," explains Manaigre. "People leave the roadway, they enter the ditch, and the vehicle rolls. Usually, it's a side-by-side roll, so what happens is the centrifugal force is extremely high. If you're not belted in you're going to exit that vehicle through one of the windows, which is now broken. Apparently the speeds you exit a vehicle at is unbelievable."

Manaigre notes, at this point in the collision, the person is ejected from the vehicle and either dies as a result of being ejected along with the impact of landing or when the vehicle collides with the individual or lands on top of them.

"Vehicles today are designed to absorb crashes. Crumple zones move all around you and keep the passenger compartment more stable."

In southeastern Manitoba, Manaigre says at this same time last year there were 14 fatalities, five where the individual was not wearing their seatbelt compared to 11 fatalities so far this year, five of which were unbelted. Provincially, those numbers are 93 deaths last year, about 30 of which were unbelted compared to 72 deaths this year, 64 which were motor-vehicle related and 33 of which were the individual was not wearing a seatbelt.

"That's 52%. This day and age I'm surprised it's that high. For sure not everyone wears it so you know there's going to be some, but to be over half of this year's fatalities, it's an eyeopener."

He adds in 2016 there were 201 occupant restraint-related charges at this same time last year, compared to 186 so far this year in the Southeast.

"The Citizens On Patrol Program (COPP) groups in the area help us conduct observational surveys for seatbelt wearing rates and the last couple surveys show wearing rates to be in the 92-97% range. When we see that five out of 11 traffic deaths in the area involved an unbelted occupant, it shows us how over-represented this group is in traffic fatalities. I'm not suggesting that they are more likely to crash, but that they are more likely to die or be seriously injured due to not wearing their seatbelt."

RCMP are reminded people to always wear their seatbelt no matter the speed limit or distance being traveled.