A third of the fatal road deaths that have occurred in this garda division since the start of the year involved people not wearing seatbelts.
Garda Chief Superintendent Ray McMahon of the Mayo/Roscommon/Longford Garda Division told today’s Mayo Joint Policing Committee meeting that the gardai will be targeting the non-wearing of seatbelts in their road checkpoints and controls for the next number of months.
He said that in the case of the 15 road traffic collisions that occurred across the three counties over the past nine months, in 5 incidents, the people who died were not wearing seatbelts.
In particular, Chief Supt McMahon stressed the need to wear seatbelts in the back of any vehicle. He said the chance of avoiding serious or fatal injuries if you are involved in a road collision is substantially enhanced if you are wearing a seatbelt.
Nationally, the non-wearing of seatbelts in road fatalities has increased this year, and also involved single vehicle collisions.
