Can Passengers influence driver behaviour? Seatbelt statistics: Car occupants form 65% of all road casualties.

1. FACT SHEET • Can Passengers influence driver behaviour? • Seatbelt statistics: • Car occupants form 65% of all road casualties. • In 2004, 183,858 people were killed/injured while travelling in cars. • Of these 162,210 were drivers or front seat passengers. • A core 7% of drivers still fail to wear a seatbelt. • Around a third of adults don’t bother to belt up in the back seats. • Women (96%) are more conscientious than men (90%) at belting up in the front. • Without a seatbelt, in a 30mph crash you would be thrown forward with a force of between 30 – 60 times • your own body weight. • The excuses: • Seatbelts and the Law: • In 1982 the wearing of front seatbelts became compulsory. In 1991 it became compulsory for adults to wear a seatbelt in the back of a car. As a driver you are responsible for making sure that anyone under the age of 14 is strapped in. At 14 years old it becomes the individual’s responsibility to put on a seatbelt. However, it is recommended that drivers ensure all passengers travelling with them are strapped in, because in a collision an unrestrained passenger could potentially kill or injure other people in the vehicle. Recent research has shown that the crash risk for particularly young male drivers increases when they carry their peers as passengers, and that the risk increases with each additional passenger carried. Having friends in the car can encourage drivers to behave in a more risky way. As a passenger we have a responsibility for our own safety, but also to think before we encourage dangerous behaviour in others. The most common excuse used by people who fail to wear a seatbelt is “I forgot”, while about 1 in 6 people say they won’t bother to strap in if they are only travelling a short distance. 1 in 10 people said that they would be embarrassed to ask a friend to put on a seatbelt if they were travelling as a passenger in their car. 1 in 6 people say they don’t wear a rear seatbelt because they either can’t find the buckle, or they say it’s uncomfortable. A third of people say that wearing a seatbelt in the back of a vehicle “doesn’t even occur to them”