Police set July deadline for rear seat belts

CAR OWNERS must ensure they have seat belts on rear seats by July 1, 2002, when police will start enforcing the law passed this summer making them compulsory.

Following-up on a road safety campaign at the weekend, Communications Minister Averoff Neophytou said no cars without belts in the back would be imported as of January 1.

” The campaign was successful and effective,”he told the Cyprus Mail . The Minister accompanied some 40 drivers who toured the island distributing leaflets, warning people about dangerous driving.

Cyprus has the fourth highest death rate on the roads in Europe and eight out of 10 people killed in car accidents were not wearing belts.

Fines for not wearing belts in the front is currently £50. The same penalty will apply to those in the back, adults or children, when the law is enforced next summer on all vehicles less than 3.5 tonnes.

Neophytou said the grace period was only fair, in order to allow all cars time to equip themselves properly.

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.