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In car safety - a hot topic

In car safety is something of a hot topic at the moment.

Over the past few weeks road safety teams and police authorities across the UK have announced a series of initiatives to increase rates of seat belt wearing, and the DfT has unveiled plans to toughen up seat belt and child car seat laws.

The changes outlined in the DfT consultation document include children under 135cms (approx 4' 5") having to use a child restraint, prohibiting the use of rear-facing baby seats in a seat with an active frontal airbag, and the number of people travelling in the rear of a vehicle being restricted to the number of available seat belts.

In the wake of all this activity, we canvassed LARSOA members for their views and experiences, and asked what they are doing to address the problem.

West Berkshire's Bill Sandalls believes non-compliance runs across the full spectrum of drivers and passengers. "Roadside monitoring and checks reveal far too many motorists and passengers not wearing belts," he says. "The excuses trip off the tongue with frightening regularity, usually commencing 'I've only just...'.  

"Age, gender, vehicle type, social grouping and ethnicity make little difference. Priest or plumber, hoodie or wrinkly, they all do it - and they all have an excuse that makes it valid for them. From our observations non wearing can be 20 per cent - often there are more than we can stop."

Jersey RSO Philip Blake carried out an informal study into wearing rates in the Channel Island. While rates for drivers and front seat passengers were in excess of 90 per cent, his data showed that secondary school students appear significantly less likely (67 per cent) to wear a rear seat belt than their counterparts traveling to primary schools (90 per cent).

In Buckinghamshire, a series of observations near schools found that on average nearly 30 per cent of vehicle occupants were not wearing seat belts - and as a result the road safety team is developing an action plan. "We will target short trips at low speeds in urban areas, as it is often on these journeys that drivers don't belt up," says area RSO John Neil.

Road safety personnel will undertake observations and record compliance rates at pilot sites. This will be followed by education at the same venues involving Thames Valley Police and road safety personnel - and shortly after Police will re-visit and enforce seat belt legislation. Offenders may also be given the opportunity to attend a seat belt awareness course along similar lines to the Thames Valley Police speed awareness course.

'We should also identify what we as a county council can do to promote good role models to our staff and contractors," John Neil adds. "The council employs taxi drivers to take and collect children from school, and anecdotal evidence suggests that there are many occasions when children in these vehicles are not wearing belts. There may be an opportunity to write into the contracts of drivers on school runs that they must wear seat belts, and ensure that their passengers do so."

In Hackney, a survey of over 300 cars occupants carried out in December 2004 showed that 28 per cent of people in front seats were not wearing belts, and that 57 per cent of rear seat passengers were unbelted.

"The most common reason for not belting up is because people say they forget, and one in six say they don't bother if they are only going a short distance - as is perhaps common in cities," says RSO Roger Kite . "But accidents happen on short journeys as well as longer ones. In 2003, 410 car occupants were injured in Hackney alone, and in London in the same period 18,036 people in cars were hurt.

Hertfordshire RSOs worked with police to carry out roadside seatbelt checks across the county during April and May. "We found many motorists ignoring the law and driving without seatbelts and, in a surprisingly high number of cases, not ensuring their children were properly restrained either," says RSO Claire Hall .

For example, in a two-hour period in Potters Bar 128 adults and 32 children were unrestrained, and in Bushey the figures were 128 adults and 61 children.

On a brighter note, Dorset's Robert Smith says that child belt wearing rates in his county have increased significantly over the last decade. "We've been collecting data on child seat belt wearing rates on the school run since 1993 - we survey the same sites every year and at the same time of day," he says.

"In 1993 the average wearing rate among children was just 60 per cent. By 1997 this had reached 76 per cent, and through various ETP measures this had risen to 87 per cent by 2004. The target for 2005 is 88 per cent, and all school travel plan schools have a 100 per cent target.

"We have found that wearing rates are slightly lower in the afternoon than in the morning, and higher for children travelling in rural areas," he adds. "Rates for secondary school pupils tend to be slightly lower than for their primary aged counterparts. The highest wearing rates are at rural first/infant and pre-schools.

"We revisit sites where rates are lower than average and carry out education/publicity activity - or enlist the support of the police for enforcement activity. The most successful intervention is enforcement, particularly when the results are publicised," Robert Smith concludes.