Click. This is the sound that buckles you in to life in the car. However, there are still too many people who still do not wear a seat belt when they get into the passenger compartment. Doing so not only means saving the corresponding traffic fine but, most importantly, it means reducing the risk of dying in the event of an accident. And the same happens with children who go in the vehicle without their corresponding child restraint system.
Despite the awareness campaigns carried out periodically by the DGT and the modification of the Traffic Law, which has toughened the punishment for committing this infraction (now 4 points are deducted from the license), some people are not aware of the risk they are assuming for not making good use of these passive safety elements. And proof of this is the balance of the surveillance campaign carried out by the body led by Pere Navarro between March 6 and 13. During these seven days the agents controlled a total of 399,192 vehicles (cars, taxis, goods vehicles and buses) that ended in 5,405 complaints to drivers and passengers for not making use of the regulatory retention system. This represents an average of 772 daily fines.
It should be noted that 76% of all complaints were filed on conventional highways, a worrying fact if we take into account that these roads continue to be the most dangerous as they are where the highest number of fatalities are recorded and where it is even more convenient to take extreme measures. precautions.
If we analyze in detail the complaints made during the campaign, we can highlight that 5,089 adults (2,871 drivers, 1,122 co-drivers and 1,096 rear passengers) were fined for not wearing the headband fastened. Its use is mandatory in all squares and on all types of routes. It has been shown that the seat belt, in addition to reducing the risk of dying in a traffic accident by 50%, protects against being thrown from the passenger compartment, as well as against hitting the windshield. In an urban area, the possibility of being seriously injured or killed is 5 times less if you wear a seat belt.
Regarding child restraint systems, mandatory for minors with a height equal to or less than 135 cm, the agents detected 316 who were traveling without using this safety device or who were doing so incorrectly, 249 in the seats rear and 67 in the front.
For children, the use of child restraints is even more important as data shows that nine out of ten serious or fatal child injuries would have been prevented if mandatory restraints had been used. In addition, in case of suffering a traffic accident, injuries are reduced by up to 75% with proper use of them.
