Statistics reveal that more and more people are being penalised for refusing to wear a seatbelt. There has been a 17% increase over five years.
Safety charities and emergency services say that the use of seatbelts has drastically reduced the numbers of road users killed or seriously injured in the UK. However, despite massive efforts to advertise and inform around the subject, 6% of drivers still refuse to use their seatbelt and 9% do not use one when sitting in the front passenger seat of someone else’s car. 24% do not use a seatbelt when sitting in the rear seats. 80,000 fines have been given out already this year.
A representative from the road safety charity Brake said: ‘We welcome this study as it shows drivers are still not heeding safety advice. They are twice as likely to be killed if not wearing a seatbelt as when wearing one. The importance of wearing a seatbelt cannot be overstated and more than 50,000 lives have been saved in the UK since the law was changed and seatbelt use was made compulsory in 1983.’
It is feared that some of the most vulnerable drivers are those whose use of seatbelts is most hit and miss. The elderly and young drivers are at highest risk of accidents and they are the groups who often refuse to comply with the law.
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