Steep Rise In Number Of Drivers Found Not Wearing Safety Belts

Bandar Seri Begawan - The Road Safety Unit, Ministry of Communications, has revealed an alarming increase in the number of motorists not wearing safety lefts while driving on the highways.

According to a 2012 survey compiled in all four major highways, the percentage of motorists found not wearing safety belts was 34.4 per cent which was a steep increase compared to 20.3 per cent in 2011.

For this reason, the Road Safety Unit, Ministry of Communications, is upping the ante. Officials are increasing their efforts to try to enhance awareness and make more people wear safety belts, because wearing safety belts can save lives.

A joint road safety campaign was organised yesterday at Sg Bera, Seria by the National Road Safety Council and Brunei Shell Sdn Bhd.

"Imagine running as fast as you can into .a wall. You would expect to get pretty smashed up. Do you think you could stop yourself if the wall suddenly loomed up when you were two feet away from it?" asked a US university study on the danger of not wearing seat belts.

"This is exactly the situation you face when the front of your car hits something at only 25km per hour. The car stops in the first tenth of a second, but you keep on at the same rate you were going in the car until something stops you - the steering wheel, dashboard or windshield - if you're not wearing your safety belt.

"Bad enough at 25km per hour, but at 50km per hour you hit 'the wall' four times as hard as you would at 25. Or to put it another way, with the same impact you would feel as if you fell three stories.

"A properly worn safety belt keeps that second collision - the human collision -from happening," it added.

The campaign hoped to spread the Message on the importance of wearing safety belts while driving.

Present during the campaign were Dato Paduka Hj Awang Alaihuddin bin Pehin OKDSL Dato Seri Utama Haji Mohamad Taha, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications as the Chairman of the National Road Safety Council, and Ken Marnoch, Managing Director of Brunei Shell Petroleum Co Sdn Bhd, as well as members of the National Road Safety Council and employees of BSP working in the area.

During the campaign, Demerit Points System Guideline books were also distributed to drivers.

The Road Safety Unit said the campaign was also to encourage joint efforts between the government and the private sector, especially BSP, in supporting the Brunei Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020.

--Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin