She may have been driving just down the road but Claire Allen regrets not using her seat belt when another car ploughed into the side of hers. NZ Herald photograph by Mike Scott
She may have been driving just down the road but Claire Allen regrets not using her seat belt when another car ploughed into the side of hers. NZ Herald photograph by Mike Scott
In the last five years, over 300 people who died in New Zealand crashes were not wearing their seat belt.
Most of those deaths were in 2016.
The Herald, partnered by the New Zealand Police has launched Belt Up - a four day series about seatbelt safety aiming to raise awareness and improve safety for all Kiwis on our roads.
Police say many of the 93 people who died in crashes last year while not properly restrained, could have survived had they been wearing a seatbelt.
Seatbelts save lives - and for Claire Allen, that message came through loud and clear last year when she was involved in two crashes that could have claimed her life.
The Hamilton student still gets the chills when she drives past the scene of the second crash, where she wasn't buckled in.
"It could have been way worse, I think about that every time," she said.
Allen, 19, was going to a bootcamp fitness class at 5am one morning in October.
The class was at a park on Tristram Street in Hamilton, just a minute's drive from Allen's home.
"It was literally just down the road so I thought that I didn't need to put my seatbelt on," she said, shaking her head.
"I was indicating to turn right into the carpark and as I went a woman in a Toyota Hilux came up on the inside and t-boned my car.
"I turned and then it was like - boom - she took me out."
Allen suffered broken ribs and her friend cut her head.
"It could have been so much worse... I could feel myself moving from not having a seatbelt on but all I could hear was my friend screaming so I was more worried about her than myself," she said.
Six months before that crash Allen and the same friend were driving together when they were involved in another crash.
Allen said it was serious and police told them that if they had not been wearing seatbelts they would most likely have been killed on impact.
"Now I wear a seatbelt everywhere I go," Allen said.
"It's the first thing I do when I get in a car.
"I really think seatbelts save lives and they are really important - it's not just you, it's all the other people that would be affected if the worst happened.
"I remember I even got a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt before the first crash and I got a telling off from mum and dad, they said 'if anything ever happened to you it would be terrible for us'."
She may have been driving just down the road but Claire Allen regrets not using her seat belt when another car ploughed into the side of hers. NZ Herald photograph by Mike Scott
Allen said people needed to shift their mindset away from the "she'll be right" attitude of short journeys where they didn't belt up.
"You think you'll be fine, that 'it's not going to happen to me'," she said.
She urged everyone getting into a vehicle to belt up - regardless of where or how far they were going.
"Just whack it on, it literally takes a second to do - a second that can save your life," she said.
Claire Allen's damaged car after she was hit by another vehicle in Hamilton last year. She was not wearing a seatbelt and broke three ribs. Photo supplied by Claire Allen.
• Safety belts save lives.
• They support you if you're in a crash or when a vehicle stops suddenly.
• The force on safety belts can be as much as 20 times your weight - this is how hard you'd hit the inside of your vehicle without restraint.
• Wearing a safety belt reduces your chance of death or serious injury in a crash by 40 per cent.
• Whether you sit in the front or the back seat, the risk of serious or fatal injury is virtually the same.
• NZ law requires drivers and passengers in cars and other motor vehicles to wear seat belts and child restraints.
• In the last five years, over 300 people who died in NZ crashes were not wearing their seat belt.
• Many of these people would still be alive today if they were safely wearing their seat belt.
