Increased penalties for people not wearing seat belts while driving or travelling as passengers are being considered by the UK government as part of a 74-point action plan to reduce the number of deaths on Britain’s roads. Currently, offenders are given a £100 on-the-spot fine.

In 2017, 27% of car deaths involved people that were not wearing a seatbelt – meaning 1 in 4 car deaths could have been prevented by belting up.

The then Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said, “The UK has some of the safest roads in the world, but we are not complacent and continue to look at how we can make them safer.”

“Today’s action plan is a key milestone in our road safety work and sets out the important steps we are taking to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads.”

The then Road Safety Minister Michael Ellis added, “Far too many people are not wearing a seatbelt while travelling in a car, needlessly putting their lives at risk.”

“Increasing penalties for people who disregard the simplest way of protecting themselves is just one of a long list of actions this government is taking to help keep people safe on our roads.”

Other proposals include a nationally accredited safety training programme for retailers to help parents correctly fit baby and child seats after it was discovered that 70% of parents didn’t know how to properly install them.

In other road safety measures, the UK government is consulting on banning tyres aged 10 years and older from buses, coaches, minibuses and lorries. If the proposals are supported, new laws could be introduced later this year, ready to come into force early in 2020.

Photo: Chris Grayling