Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 24 April 2024
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport
Issues Relating to Road Safety: Road Safety Authority
Mr. Michael Rowland:
I will answer the seat belt question first. There is still a relatively high compliance rate of people wearing their seat belts. Our surveys suggest that seat belt wearing is in the mid-90%. Where the issue arises is the number of people who are killed who were not wearing their seat belts. It is not that 25% of people are not wearing their seat belts; it is the approximately 25% of people who have been killed were not wearing their seat belts. We have relatively high compliance on front and rear seat belt wearing but it has slipped. There has been a deterioration in seat belt wearing rates That varies from year to year. The biggest issue consistently has been the non-seat belt wearing of people involved in fatal collisions and who have died as a result.
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