NORTHUMBRIA Police are doing their bit to keep the public safe and strapped in.

Starting today, and running until the evening of Sunday, March 18, Northumbria Police will be supporting a TISPOL (European Traffic Police Network) campaign aimed at seatbelt enforcement.

This campaign will highlight, not only the consequences if you don’t wear your seatbelt, but also encourage motorists to comply with seatbelt legislation, which will contribute to reducing serious injury and fatalities on our roads.

It is also an opportunity to educate drivers on the fairly recent change in law regarding child seatbelts, which changed in March last year. It now states that children must use a child seat until they are 12 years old or 135 cm tall, whichever comes first. Children over 12 years of age or more than 135cm tall must wear a seat belt.

Under these new regulations the cushion booster seats will be restricted to older children. Only children who weigh 22kg or more, or 148cm tall will be recommended to use the booster seat.

Insp Dean Hood said: “This campaign is an excellent opportunity to highlight the dangers of not wearing a seatbelt and what the consequences can be for you and others if you don’t.

“It is important we reach out to as many drivers as possible as this affects all motorists. Statistics show that drivers and passengers aged 17 to 34 have the lowest seatbelt-wearing rates combined with the highest accident rate. Our officers need to ensure we do everything possible to make sure our roads are safe and those driving on them are correctly protected.

“Figures show that you’re twice as likely to die if you don’t wear a seatbelt. We need to make sure drivers wear their seatbelt at all times, even on short journeys, as this is often when people think it is ok to not wear one- they need to realise it only takes a second to be involved in a collision.”

  • For full details of the full legislation, when a child can travel without a car seat, fitting a child seat and types of child car seats click the link below www.gov.uk/child-car-seats-the-rules