Drivers and passengers playing ‘Russian roulette’

Leeds road safety team and West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue recently demonstrated what can happen to car occupants who don’t wear seatbelts by simulating the extrication of a ‘victim’ from the wreckage of a head on collision.

The extrication helped launch a month long campaign and provided the backdrop to a media launch announcing recent survey results.

The road safety team says the results revealed that hundreds of West Yorkshire drivers are playing ‘Russian roulette’ with their own lives and those of their child passengers by not wearing seatbelts.

The survey revealed that 27% of adults and 45% of children were failing to use the appropriate restraint. At one location 55% of adults and 81% of children were seen not using seatbelts.

Tim Draper, road safety manager, says: “People seem to have forgotten that seat belts save lives, even on the shortest journeys and at the slowest speeds.”

For further information contact Becky Prosser on 0113 2475198, or rebecca.prosser@leeds.gov.uk