Seat belt would have saved young mum

A SEAT belt would certainly have saved the life of young mother, killed as her car overturned into a ditch on the motorway, police said yesterday
Maria Madritou died yesterday morning after losing control of her car as she joined the Limassol-Nicosia motorway.

She was not wearing a seat belt and had apparently been driving at high speed.
Mandritou, aged 31, leaves an 18-month-old son. She worked as a make-up artist for television stations Sigma and Antenna as well as for TV Mania magazine, and was on her way to work yesterday morning when the accident happened.

According to Limassol Traffic Police Chief Philipos Papaelias, Mandritou was pulling onto the motorway at the Parekklisia exit when she lost control of her small saloon car.
The car careered out of control, fell into the ditch on the side of the road and overturned two or three times before coming to a rest.

Mandritou, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was killed instantly when she was flung out of the car and ended up on the tarmac.

“She was driving at high speed, and without a doubt, if she had been wearing a seatbelt, she would still be alive today,” Papaelias told reporters at the scene, adding that the car had not been badly damaged.

The accident caused huge traffic delays for vehicles heading into Limassol.
Police have in recent years been cracking down hard on people not wearing seat belts, last year booking a staggering 10,724 offenders.
In 2005, 40 of the 54 people killed in cars were not wearing seat belts; last year, that number had fallen to 17 out of 40.

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