By Alexia Saoulli
THE HOUSE Communication Committee decided yesterday that twin cabin truck drivers would have to add backseat seatbelts in their vehicles. The bill will be sent to the Plenum for approval next Thursday.
According to the amendment, the same regulations will apply to twin cabin vehicles, as have recently been applied for passengers in saloon cars. Therefore, all vehicles registered with the Road Transport Department since January 1, 1998, will be forced to add seatbelts to their cars, unless their placement is deemed unsafe, the committee said.
House Committee president Nicos Pittokopitis said the law that had been drawn up for saloon cars and passed last July 1 had not been drafted for EU harmonisation purposes, but for road safety reasons, which was why it should also be applied to pick up trucks and all passenger vehicles. He added that 99.9 per cent of all twin cabin pickups already fulfilled the prerequisites necessary for placing seatbelts in the back seat.
Meanwhile, Road Transport Department official Soteris Kolettas said that from the moment the law is passed, any such vehicles imported to Cyprus will have to come with standard backseat seatbelts. The European Union stipulates that seatbelts are compulsory for all N1 category cars, which include saloon and twin cabin vehicles, he added.
Until now, Cyprus law has classed twin cabins as ‘truck vehicles’, which is why they were so far exempt from enforcing the rule about compulsory seatbelts for all passengers.
AKEL deputy Thasos Michaelides asked whether arrangements had been made to help large families, with four or more children, buy bigger cars so that they could transport their families safely, Kolettas said arrangements were being made. But Pittokopitis said the only way to ensure large families were being transported safely was if the purchase of new cars was sponsored by the state.
The law will be brought before the House Plenum on June 12.
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.
