VIDEO: West Yorkshire Police supports seatbelt campaign after increase in child deaths

Campaign organisers TISPOL is an organisation established by traffic police forces across Europe, with its main priority being to reduce the number of people being killed and seriously injured.

Recent Department for Transport road casualty figures show that there were 54 child deaths in 2015, one more than in 2014 and six more than in 2013.

It has been identified that the majority of car seats across the UK are incorrectly fitted, where two in every three are not fitted properly. This may be contributing to the continuing rise in child road death and injury.

Alongside drawing attention to the obvious safety benefits of wearing a seatbelt and of the risks of badly or incorrectly fitted child seats, West Yorkshire Police also want to highlight to drivers that it is their responsibility to ensure their passengers are wearing seatbelts, especially younger passengers who may not be old enough to take responsibility for themselves.

Insp Joanne Field said; “Wearing a seatbelt can reduce the chance of dying in a collision by 50% if you’re travelling in the front of a vehicle, and 25% if you’re a rear passenger.

“People travelling in the rear of a vehicle who aren’t wearing a seatbelt could be thrown forward in to the back of the front seats and can increase the fatality rates amongst belted front seat occupants.

“It’s such a simple thing to do, pull the belt over and click in the seatbelt, it only takes seconds – those seconds in securing a seatbelt could save your and your passengers lives, or prevent more serious injuries from happening.

“With the majority of people travelling with family or friends in their vehicles, it is vital that everyone wears a seatbelt, protecting themselves and their passengers. Travelling in a vehicle without wearing a seatbelt simply isn’t worth the risk.”

The campaign, which runs all this week, demonstrates the resolve of police forces across Europe in tackling the “Fatal 4” offences, which includes the non-wearing of seatbelts, will save lives and prevent injury.