Seatbelt blitz coming

9:44am Friday 25th January 2008

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Wiltshire Police are mounting a seatbelt blitz during the month of February.

The month long campaign will reach a climax during the week of February 18th to 24th where there will be a Europe wide focus on seatbelts led by TISPOL (The European Traffic Police Network).

Seatbelt legislation has been around since 1983, but every year the emergency services still attend road collisions where vehicle occupants are being killed or seriously injured as a direct result of not wearing their seatbelt.

Tragically, there have been very recent fatal collisions, where early investigations have identified a lack of seatbelt use by vehicle occupants.

Although research shows that 90 per cent of people wear a seat belt in the front of vehicles, only around 70 percent of rear seat passengers, many of whom are children, wear one.

Back seat passengers who do not wear a seat belt are three times more likely to suffer death or serious injury than those who do. They are also responsible for causing the deaths of around 40 front seat passengers a year when thrown forward in a collision.

Inspector Nick Elton from the Wiltshire Police Road Policing Unit said: "It is vital that people wear their seatbelts regardless of where they are sitting in a vehicle."

Inspector Elton added: "Motorists also need to be aware of the dangers of carrying pets and other large loose objects in the rear of their vehicle. In a crash, an unrestrained pet could be seriously injured, or injure other people in the vehicle."

Under the current law rivers must ensure that passengers under the age of 14 have their seatbelts on and they risk a fine of £500 if they are found not to be buckled in.