In the wake of a single vehicle collision that claimed the life of a 15-year-old Sundre boy, RCMP officers are stressing the importance of wearing seatbelts.
Passenger Tristan Peck had not been wearing a seatbelt when he was ejected from a vehicle after the driver lost control in icy road conditions just south of Sundre on Dec. 19.
“Had Tristan been wearing a seatbelt, in all likelihood, it would have saved his life,” said Sundre RCMP Sgt. Jim Lank.
“It would have prevented him from being ejected from the vehicle. And that's probably what killed him.”
The single vehicle collision occurred around 9:30 p.m. on Dec. 19 on Highway 760. An 18-year-old relative of Peck, whose name is not being released, was driving a 1994 Chevrolet pickup truck when he lost control on black ice.
Peck was transported by STARS air ambulance to the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary in critical condition, where he died the following day.
The driver was taken to hospital, treated for serious, non-life-threatening injuries. Officers have determined the driver was also not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident.
Officers are continuing the investigation and failing to wear a seatbelt charges under the Traffic Safety Act are pending.
Lank believes Peck was ejected from the passenger window, but the back window shattered as well. Peck was found in close proximity to the vehicle.
“We're still looking at whether or not speed was a factor in the essence of driving too fast for the conditions of the road,” he said.
“Clearly the road conditions were a contributing factor. So we're just having a close look at whether the driver was being cautious and reasonable enough at the time to, you know, was it preventable, yes or no? But it appears that the driver came upon the black ice and that's the point where he lost control,” he explained.
“But we don't believe the vehicle was travelling at an excessively high rate of speed or anything like that.”
The speed limit on the road at that location is 50 kilometres per hour and he believes the vehicle was travelling between 50 and 60 kilometres per hour.
“It's a sad thing when these things happen and they are preventable,” he said.
“The chances of surviving an accident are significantly increased when you're wearing a seatbelt.”
