27/07/2001

Road safety message is shown to hit home

A new survey shows that the current ‘road safety’ message may be beginning to hit home, following a week of traffic accident tragedies - particularly in the Republic of Ireland where 21 people have perished in road accidents during the last week alone.

In a survey designed to find out what impact the new road safety advertising campaign launched by the Department of Environment (DoE) has had, 87 per cent of 16 – 35 year olds said that they had been influenced by the message regarding the role of seatbelts in saving lives.

Meanwhile, people found not wearing their seatbelts are to be issued with a £30 fixed penalty notice instead of a warning, in a new RUC initiative designed to save lives and reduce serious injury.

Every year almost 35,000 people are found not wearing seatbelts, with most offenders so far given advice and warning instead of penalties or prosecution. However, the launch of a new media campaign has stressed the move away from this current practice to one of issuing fixed penalty notices.

Announcing the newest phase of the initiative, Superintendent Ian Hamill, head of Road Policing Development Branch, said: "The RUC, along with the Department of the Environment and other organisations involved in road safety, believe that up to 20 lives could be saved in Northern Ireland every year if more seatbelts were worn." (CL)

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