Police launch crack down on drivers and passengers who fail to wear seat belts

A campaign to crack down on drivers and passengers who fail to wear seat belts is being conducted by Thames Valley Police.

Week commencing Monday 12th September 2016 to Sunday 18th November 2016 all police forces across Europe will be carrying out seat belt enforcement action as part of the European TISPOL (European Traffic Police Network) campaign.

Random checks will be conducted throughout the Thames Valley area at all times of the day and night. Drivers and or passengers who are caught not wearing a seat belt will be issued with anything from a Fixed Penalty Notice to a summons to attend court.

This is the second TISPOL seat belt campaign to be conducted this year. The first took place in March 2016 when 378 people in the Thames Valley were caught not wearing a seat belt.

Sgt Chris Appleby, from the Thames Valley Police and Hampshire Constabulary Joint Roads Policing Unit, said: ‘The purpose of this joint European campaign is to enforce the wearing of seatbelts and child restraints in all vehicles and draw attention to the subject.

Failure to wear a seatbelt has been identified as one of the four key reasons of fatalities in road traffic collisions.

According to Safer Roads, 2,000 people a year are saved by wearing seat belts. They say that, in the event of a collision, if unrestrained you will hit the windscreen, or the front seat in the case of a rear seat passenger, at a force of 30 to 60 times your own body weight.

The message is simple – always wear your seat belt – #ItsNotWorthTheRisk‘.