Penalty points for non-seatbelt use to drive behaviour change

An expert in enforcement technology says plans to give penalty points to drivers caught not wearing a seat belt will help drive behaviour change and make roads safer, if they’re backed up with proper enforcement and driver awareness courses.

The recently-published Road Safety Strategy pledged to gather feedback on introducing penalty points for failure to wear a seat belt, and additional penalty points for drivers who do not ensure child passengers wear seat belts.

Acusensus UK general manager and chair of ITS UK’s Enforcement Forum, Geoff Collins, has welcomed the move.

He said: “This is important because up until now you could habitually choose not to wear a seat belt and if you get caught, you pay the fine and have no further sanction.

“But now, it will have an effect on your insurance cost and eventually lead to losing your licence, and that’s something that people will have to take notice of.”

Acusensus invented its “Heads-Up” technology which uses specially equipped cameras to see through the windscreen and into the vehicle, to identify cases where people are not wearing a seat belt or using a mobile phone as they drive past.

Safer Roads Greater Manchester found just how serious the issue of seat belt non-compliance is, with the technology identifying 2,400 people not wearing a seat belt in just 51 days at one location last year.

Furthermore, research by PACTS found that in 2023, one-in-four car occupants who died in collisions in Great Britain, where seat belt status was known, were not wearing one.

Geoff added: “Not wearing a seat belt is a conscious choice. It’s possible to go over the speed limit by a few miles an hour if you’re just keeping up with other traffic or you’ve temporarily lost concentration, but with a seat belt you have to actively choose not to put it on.

“The risk of penalty points, plus robust enforcement to spot non-compliance using technology such as ours, will definitely make a difference and save people from death or life-changing injuries in the event of a crash.”