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Models reinforce seatbelt safety

Schoolchildren on Teesside are being shown models of a car crash to bring home to them how important it is to wear a seatbelt.

Road safety officers in Hartlepool are touring local schools with a miniature crash dummy simulator. The mock-up of a car, containing small mannequins, has an 'accident' to demonstrate what can happen to passengers who have not belted up. The scheme was first tried out in Middlesbrough 18 months ago.

"We've got a mock up of the car with a roof that lifts off," said RSO Paul Watson. "You put small dummies inside it and send it down a slight incline resembling an accident. It shows graphically what can happen to occupants when they don't wear a seatbelt. Conversely, we put the seatbelts on and it shows what benefits seatbelts are."

Alison Fawcett, schools liaison officer for Hartlepool Police said of the demonstrations: "For the whole 15 minutes children are totally enthralled with what is happening. Hopefully that message will get across and they will give that to their parents when they get in their vehicles."

More @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/4467993.stm

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