In Northern Ireland, the law states that, whilst travelling in cars, vans or other commercial vehicles, you must use a seat belt if one is fitted - http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/wearing-a-seat-belt-and-exemptions. This survey aims to record the level of compliance with this law on Northern Ireland’s roads. This is the twenty-fifth in a series of Northern Ireland Surveys of Seat Belt Wearing. The series, which began in 1994, had been conducted biannually, in April and October. However, since April 1997 the survey has been conducted on an annual basis in April of each year, with the exception of 2001 when a survey was carried out in both April and October. The majority of this report concentrates on seat belt wearing rates in cars. However, in addition to the 13,584 cars and 20,438 car occupants observed, there were 542 taxis (all displaying a taxi licensing plate) and 1,600 vans observed under the same conditions. The details of 879 taxi occupants and 2,037 van occupants were recorded, with the main findings also presented in this report. In addition to seat belt wearing rates, the use of mobile phones by drivers has been recorded in the survey for the last 12 years. Results for 2014 are presented in this report. Key findings from the report are presented below. Detailed tables are available to download in Excel format from http://www.doeni.gov.uk/road_safety_statistics.htm. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting