Horizons Regional Council pushes drivers to use seatbelt always

Glenda Leitao (right) checks a carseat.

No matter if it's around the corner to the local shop, or a longer journey, people should always buckle up in the car.

That's the message the Horizons Regional Council has chosen to push as part of Road Safety Week, which begins next Monday. Horizons road safety co-ordinator Glenda Leitao said a seatbelt would increase the likeliness of survival in a crash by 40 per cent.

"It is a national problem but we have found in particular in Whanganui people are still failing to plug them in," she said.

"They quite often have their children in the correct restraint but they don't put themselves in the seatbelt. Children learn by example so that's why we push to make sure adults are plugged in safely."

Leitao warned people not to give in to the temptation to think driving around the corner meant a seatbelt wasn't necessary.

"More crashes happen less than 100m from your home, than anywhere else on the road," she said.

"As soon as you start that car, you're at risk so the first thing you should do is put your seatbelt on. It's there for a reason."

The regional council was also reminding parents to make sure their children's carseats were correctly installed.

Police, Plunket and Horizons had been staging three to four checkpoints per year in Whanganui where they were helping parents make sure seats were safe.

"The problem is people can buy child restraints online these days [with] no instructions. Quite often these seats are made for a particular type of vehicle," Leitao said.

"The good retailers will advise and will also take a return of a seat if it doesn't fit properly."

Call your local Plunket office for advice on how to install a child's carseat or to get it checked.