Crash victims send out strong message in seat-belt campaign

A purge is being launched on North Yorkshire motoristsnot wearing seat belts after a survey of 11,000 local cars found four per cent of local drivers and six per cent of passengers are ignoring the Clunk Click message.

Campaigners from 95 Alive – the North Yorkshire road safety partnership – is launching a new drive to encourage people to belt up every trip following the worrying findings concerning adults. Among children the results were more encouraging, but 2.9 per cent were still not properly fastened in.

The campaigners say 60,000 lives have been saved since wearing seat belts became compulsory in 1983. It is widely regarded as the simplest most effective life-saving measure in a car.

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Supporting the campaign are two crash victims, from the Selby area, and a father who lost his son in a road tragedy who now work to warn people about the dangers of not wearing seat belts. Sarah McGaughey, 18, was in a coma for five weeks after suffering severe head injuries when her car crashed while she was not wearing a seat belt.

Miss McGaughey, from Barlby, near Selby, ended up fighting for her life after her Fiat Punto was involved in a head-on smash with a Toyota Yaris in June 2009 in the rain on the sodden A1041 Bawtry Road.

Keith Houlistan's 17-year-old son Neil was killed in a crash on Christmas Day 2005. The teenager was driving home to Thorpe Willoughby when he took a bend too quickly and collided head-on with another car. Neil was killed instantly.

At his inquest the coroner went as far as to say that if he had been wearing his seat belt he probably would have escaped with nothing worse than whiplash injuries.

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Michelle Wheatley, 24, was saved by her seat belt after her car crashed into a tree next to a 40ft drop into a quarry on the A162 Brotherton to Burton Salmon road. "The fire service had to fasten the car to the fire engine to stop it going over the edge of the quarry then cut off the back of the car to slide me out. I was a mess.

"I had fractured my forehead, the top of my head and the base of my skull, broken my eye sockets and my nose and jaw were both broken." She was left deaf in her right ear from the crash, which also wrecked her dream of join ing the police.

Over the summer they will be working with North Yorkshire Police and the fire service to spread the safety message.

County council director of business and environmental services David Bowe, chairman of 95 Alive, said: "It seems astonishing that anyone would risk not wearing a seat belt.

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"The fact is it can save your life, there is no argument it is as simple as that.

"So many people have walked away from car crashes with slight or no injuries because they had clunk-clicked and yet the results of our survey show people are dicing with death every day.

"Three members of the public have bravely come forward to tell their stories in the hope this can help get the message across about the devastation and horrific results of not wearing a seat belt." Deputy chief fire officer Chris Anderson added: "North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service are pleased to support this campaign to encourage people to wear a seat belt.

"It is such a simple measure, but one that could save your life.

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"All too often we see the impact of road traffic collisions, and we want to do all we can to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries that occur on the county's roads."

The 95 Alive York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership involving local authorities, 999 services and other agencies has set itself a target to save an additional 95 lives by the end of 2010.

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