THE good news on Orange roads has continued, with the latest statistics showing the number of seatbelt offences on our city’s roads are dropping.
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The 12 per cent fall in infringements comes on the back of drops in the number of speeding and mobile phone offences between July, 2016 and June, 2017.
The city’s drivers are still too high on the statewide list of drink-driving offences, which just goes to show there’s still room for improvement.
It’s commendable the number of seatbelt offences is down, but it’s hard to imagine why, in 2017, one person could travel in a motor vehicle without buckling up, let alone 104 in the space of a year.
How silly or careless can people be?
While there’s no condoning any driving infringement, sometimes motorists speed without meaning to, or quickly peak at a vibrating mobile phone to see who’s contacting them.
These can be acts of impulsive human nature, but forgetting or refusing to buckle your seatbelt as soon as you get in the car is sheer stupidity.
It is about self-preservation for drivers and caring for the welfare of loved ones, passengers, work colleagues or anyone else taking a drive with them.
There is simply no earthly reason why a driver or passengers shouldn’t buckle up … so why don’t they get it?
The police and road safety organisations have been running campaigns urging drivers and passengers to buckle up – not for years, but for decades.
Everybody should know the rules.
Among the offenders were drivers caught while driving children aged from under six months to 16 years old who were not wearing seatbelts.
That is not just deserving of a fine … it is downright criminal. Surely, we should do everything we can to protect the young.
Police and road safety organisations cannot comprehend why people would choose not to wear seatbelts when they save lives and point out that not wearing them is a significant factor in Western NSW’s high fatality and serious injury rates in crashes.
It is not rocket science. There is that simple “click every trip” message. It should be followed every time someone is travelling in a vehicle.
The few seconds spent buckling up could save people from harm or even death.
No excuses, just do it.
