Over 700 booked in week-long seatbelt campaign

Police on Tuesday announced the results of a seatbelt campaign, saying they had reported over 700 people in the past week.

“As part of efforts being made to prevent and reduce road traffic collisions and particularly serious and fatal ones, a nationwide inspection campaign for seat belt use was carried out between November 21 and 27,” a statement said.

Police said that during the campaign, particular emphasis was given to the use of seatbelts in the back seats of vehicles, where they said use is a lot lower in comparison than with that in the front. Attention was also given to the use of child seats.

“The aim of the campaign was to achieve awareness of drivers and passengers of motor vehicles that on entering the vehicle, to wear a seatbelt, with a view to preventing and reducing serious and fatal injuries in road traffic collisions.”

In fatal accidents on the island during 2015, some 54 per cent of drivers and passengers killed were not wearing seatbelts, with the figure in the five year period to 2014 coming to 66 per cent.

Police said they made a total of 737 reports during the week, of which 27 concerned back seat use.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.