Police pull in seatbelt offenders

7:46am Monday 18th June 2007

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Some motorists still take a cavalier attitude to wearing seatbelts but most are heeding the ban on using mobile phones at the wheel, say police and road safety officials.

Thames Valley Police and Oxfordshire County Council organised a two-hour road check in Oxford's Botley Road on Friday and caught only three people flouting the law over mobile telephone use. None of the 70 people breathalysed was over the drink-driving alcohol limit.

But 37 people were caught not using their seatbelts, which exasperated Sgt Chris Appleby. He said: "This is disappointing, because you would have hoped people would be wearing them, after so many years of it being the law.

"Thirty per cent of people who die in crashes would have survived if they were wearing seatbelts."

Those caught without seatbelts ranged from teenagers to those in their late 60s. They were all given £30 fixed-penalty fines.

The three people caught using mobiles without hands-free kits were fined £60 and will get three penalty points. Two people were cautioned for possession of cannabis and one uninsured vehicle was seized