Quarter of a century of seatbelts, do you clunk click

As seatbelts have been mandatory for a quarter of a century statistics from the Department of Transports think road safety website show that while 93 per cent of adults in front seats wear their belts only 70 per cent are strapping up in the back.

Since the law was introduced in 1983 it has been estimated that 60,000 lives have been saved and some 670,000 serious injuries have been prevented.

The modern car has a host of safety features of which the seat belts are just one aspect, carmakers have designed these to work in conjunction with each other and they assume that they will be. Not wearing the belt means that the other safety devices may not work to their desired ability.

Also there are implications on how much your insurer may be willing to payout for personnel injury if you’re involved in a crash but are not wearing the belt.

New research is being undertaken by the Department of Transport into the uses and attitudes towards seatbelts towards the end of 2008.

News provided by insuremyvehicle.

February 22^nd 2008

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