Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership has announced the results of a campaign that took place from 6-26 June to urge all drivers and passengers to always wear a seatbelt.
During the National Police Chief Council led campaign Warwickshire Police stopped a total of 194 vehicles where either the driver or a passenger was not wearing a seatbelt. This included 82 cars (42.3%) 65 van drivers (33.5%) and 47 HGV’s (24.2%).
As a result 192 seat belt offences were identified. During the enforcement activities, 174 drivers and 17 passengers were stopped by officers for not wearing a seatbelt. One driver had also committed a child restraint offence.
87% of those not wearing seat belts were male and 88% of those not wearing a seat belt were over 25 years old.
Sergeant Bridle said “Most drivers understand that wearing a seat belt is really important because in a collision, you’re twice as likely to die if you don’t wear a seat belt. It’s one of the top four contributory factors to death and injury on our roads alongside drink and drug driving, mobile phones and speeding.
“The excuses given to our officers include “sorry I forgot ” and overall those not wearing a seatbelt seem to be simply lazy or display a lack of concern. This drives us to do more seatbelt enforcement operations over the coming months to help educate drivers that wearing a seatbelt could save their lives. ”
Police and Crime Commissioner for Warwickshire and Chair of WRSP Philip Seccombe said: “We need drivers and passengers to take responsibility for their own safety on the roads by always wearing a seatbelt. We are also asking families and partners to ensure their loved ones always belt up. Please tell them it is important to you that they stay safe.
“We are looking at all aspects of road safety but we need the public to play their part to help us reduce death and serious injury on our roads by 50% by 2030.”
