Drivers could face tougher penalties for not wearing seatbelts

23 Jul 2019

It's pretty routine for many of us: you get behind the wheel of your pride and joy, you click the seatbelt into position, and you set off.

Unfortunately, though, some people don't seem to have that habit - and now the government wants to crack down on them in a bid to make the roads safer for those of us who are able to follow the rules.

The Department for Transport has announced that it is looking into introducing tougher penalties for drivers caught not wearing their seatbelt as part of a raft of new measures under the Road Safety Action Plan.

Currently, there is simply a £100 fine for failure to wear a seatbelt, but the government wants to introduce penalty points on the driving licences of those who flout the law too.

Statistics show that 27 per cent of car deaths in 2017 involved people who were not wearing a seatbelt, an increase of seven per cent on the previous year.

This suggests the problem is getting worse rather than better, something the government is keen to address.

Transport secretary Chris Grayling said the new Road Safety Action Plan is a 'key milestone' in setting out how Britain intends to reduce the number of people killed on the roads.

IAM RoadSmart is among the organisations welcoming the tougher rules, having regularly lobbied for such a law to encourage car occupants to belt up.

"This is very welcome news. The best way of tackling this ever-present issue is to make people believe there is a high chance of being caught. People avoid using seatbelts for a wide range of individual reasons and these views need to be challenged face-to-face," said the organisation's Neil Greig.