Seatbelt is the back-seat saviour

By SCOTT MacLEOD transport reporter

The dramatic cut in Auckland's road toll in the past year is partly due to more back-seat passengers wearing seatbelts, figures suggest.

A national survey has found that the number of Aucklanders wearing rear seatbelts hit 84 per cent last year - up from just 56 per cent in 1999.

North Shore City had the best rate in the country with 96 per cent; the national average was 76 per cent.

Road safety officials believe the figures show one reason that Auckland achieved its record-low road toll of 72 deaths last year, down from its usual 100 and one-third of the peak of 216 in 1987. The Land Transport Safety Authority (LTSA) checked more than 4700 back-seat passengers at 29 sites around the country.

The authority's Auckland manager, Peter Kippenberger, said police and road safety workers had put a lot of effort into the northern region, which was clearly starting to pay off.

"Not only does a high rate of safety belt use mean fewer people dying, it often means less serious injuries," he said. "We're pleased with the results and hope we can continue to improve."

Browns Bay resident Sharon Hughes told the Herald that wearing seatbelts saved her family during a fatal head-on crash in the Bay of Plenty two years ago. All four adults in the car, including the back-seat passengers, were wearing seatbelts and escaped with bruising, whiplash and broken bones.

Mrs Hughes said police told the family that the belts had saved their lives. Two people in the other vehicle who were not wearing belts died.

"We always used to make sure our belts were fastened, but now we do it like you wouldn't believe - seatbelts save lives," she said.

The LTSA survey was done after a two-year campaign, backed by the ACC, to improve seatbelt wearing.

For a while warning letters were sent to the owners of cars spotted with back-seat passengers not wearing their belts but the police followed this up with tickets for offenders.

ACC regional manager (injury prevention) Kate Ryder said seatbelt campaigns would continue.

The survey found that males improved their rear seatbelt use more than women, up from 61 per cent nationally in 1999 to 72 per cent.

However, females were still generally better overall, at 79 per cent.

One worry was that just 67 per cent of adult passengers in vans used seatbelts.

Most regions improved their seatbelt rates, except for the Bay of Plenty, Hawkes Bay, Taranaki and Wellington.

The LTSA was unable to say how many lives were saved by rear seatbelts because it does not keep figures specifically on back-seat passengers.

Canterbury halved its fatalities in just one year. The 32 victims last year compared with 63 in 1999 and 82 in its worst year, 1986.

Herald Online feature: Cutting the road toll

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