Belt up and save lives

Road safety chiefs are urging drivers and passengers to “belt up” after a recent operation caught 87 offenders.

The initiative was carried out during February half-term by Bury Council, Greater Manchester Police and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service.

The aim was to educate motorists and improve safety - during 2010 and 2011, there were 562 car occupant casualties in Bury alone. An unrestrained person is twice as likely to die in a crash compared to someone that is wearing a seatbelt.

Katie Swierczynski, community safety advisor for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, said: “The front and the back of cars are designed to crumple in a crash and an unrestrained passenger or driver can become entangled in this wreckage. By wearing a seatbelt, occupants have a far greater chance of survival because they will stay still in the reinforced passenger compartment, where the emergency services can access them more easily and quickly.”

Police officers stopped vehicles where an occupant was not wearing a seatbelt. They gave them a choice – pay a £60 fixed penalty notice, or attend a road safety presentation run by the council and fire service. Over three days, 79 drivers and adult passengers attended the presentation.

Of these, 64 completed feedback forms and the majority were very positive, saying the presentation was very thought-provoking and more effective at changing their attitude than a fixed penalty notice.

Jan Brabin, senior road safety officer at the council, said: “This initiative shows that, despite all the advances with in-car safety linked to technology, the most important safety feature is the seatbelt. Without a seatbelt, a person is thrown forward at tremendous force causing themselves and those they are travelling with potentially fatal injuries.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

·  You are twice as likely to die in a crash if you don’t wear a seatbelt

·  The airbag will not protect you if you do not wear the seatbelt. The seatbelt is the primary safety feature

·  The driver is liable to prosecution if a child under 14 does not wear a seat belt or child restraint as required in their car

·  Every child up to the age of 12 or a height of 135cm (whichever they reach first) must use the appropriate child restraint

·  An unrestrained passenger or driver is more likely to be thrown from the vehicle and therefore more likely to die in the event of a crash

·  An unrestrained passenger or driver has three collisions if they crash when not wearing a seatbelt:

-  The vehicle hits something.

-  The driver’s body hits the inside of the vehicle.

-  The internal organs hit the inside of the body

·  An unrestrained passenger can kill other passengers and the driver when they are thrown forward at a force of between 30-60 times their own body weight.

For further information please contact Peter Doherty or Katy Quinn in the council press office on 0161 253 6096 or 5007. Alternatively please email communications@bury.gov.uk