It is common for drivers not to wear seat belts on the road

 ‘As passengers, children are very vulnerable if they are not wearing seat belts,’ says research coordinator Khwezi Gule of the Univeristy of Natal’s Interdisciplinary Accident Research Centre.

Drivers find it easy to endanger their lives by not wearing seat belts and they often do not take precautionary measures to safeguard the lives of child passengers, writes Igalelo Reporter.

A sample of 3000 motorists from different cultural and racial backgrounds surveyed by the University of Natal’s Interdisciplinary Accident Research Centre has revealed that road safety education needs to be combined with law enforcement to effect obedience to road regulations. In particular, the study found that the rate of seatbelt compliance was quite low.

Gule points out that deviant motorists and passenger behavior as far as seat belts are concerned are caused by such factors as gross ignorance and lack of concentration. According to the findings, many motorists seemed to recognize the importance of wearing seatbelts, but they were simply forgetful.

He observes that a minority of motorists exhibits aggression and a blatant disregard not only for the rules of the road but also for the rights of other road-users. At the more serious end of the non-complying motorists are drivers with no respect for the law.

He explained: "In the few interactions we had with drivers during the information campaign some drivers were openly hostile to being asked to wear a seat belt, stating they would never wear one.

In a few disturbing cases even the threat of getting charged was insufficient motivation for them to comply. This tendency might indicate that the motoring public has no fear of getting charged or that the resulting fine is not steep enough to warrant compliance.

According to Gule amongst these drivers who could be described as willfully negligent were many drivers of vehicles associated with commercial activities, such as mini-bus taxis, metered taxis, delivery vans and police officers. The non-compliance of traffic officers must be treated with even more seriousness than that of other road users because they ought to know better and they ought to set a good example, he adds.

"Also in this category were motorists who felt that just because their car was manufactured before it became mandatory to have seatbelts in the car that it was OKAY not to have one fitted," he states, adding that in one particular case the driver suggested that they were too obese or fat to wear a seatbelt.

Other motorists complained that seat belts were obtrusive when driving especially when the driver was executing difficult maneuvers that required them to turn their bodies to look at the rear of the car.

The child 

He says many cases were witnessed where the only occupants in a vehicle were the driver and a child in the rear seat, but the child was not strapped in. In many of those cases the child was standing in between the two front seats.

Gule explained: "It is also quite common to see the child being held by an adult. This is an indication that they mean well, but do not know that when a vehicle quickly decelerates, the child cannot be held secure, and will be flung from the adult’s arms and is likely to collide with some hard surface causing head and neck injuries or death."

Gule concludes: "In summary, the conclusions are that drivers are more likely to adhere to seat belt regulations than passengers. The most responsible drivers are over the age of 50 years. Women appear to be more compliant than men on use of seat belts. The type of vehicle and its condition appear to have a positive effect on seat belt use. Information campaign by itself is only partially effective. It seems that in the final analysis, a combination of information and law enforcement yield better results."

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