40% Of Children Travelling Unsafely

3 MAR - 40% of children travel in cars in an unsafe way, a recent survey carried out in Hungary shows.

The survey targeting seat belt use showed that drivers of vans and minibuses are far behind in compliance compared to drivers of passenger cars, although there is no improvement for the latter either. It can also be concluded that weekend drivers are more careful than everyday drivers.

Methodology

In the survey carried out in 2022, the locations were classified into three road categories (interior, exterior, highway), and all periods were examined (a distinction was made between working and non-working days). In passenger cars, 88.5% of drivers, 87.3% of passengers in the front seat, and 57.1% of rear passengers used their seat belts correctly. 60.9% of the children traveled properly secured in a child safety system, another 25% were seated in such a system, but were not fastened or were fastened only with an adult safety belt, 14% of the children traveled without using a safety belt or child protection device . On the highways, 93.3% of observed drivers, 92% of front passengers, and 61% of rear passengers were wearing their seat belts. 65.5% of children traveled using a properly used child protection device.

Areas

The ratios are also more favorable outside the built-up area than those observed inside the built-up area: depending on the passenger position, a 4-6% higher willingness to use was observed. On weekends, compared to weekdays, both drivers and front passengers used seat belts at a higher rate, and the rate of correct use of child safety systems was also higher. An extremely poor rate of seat belt use can be observed in the case of light trucks (primarily in brigade buses and delivery vans). The rate of correct seat belt wearing among drivers of light trucks is only 63.9%, which is almost 25% lower than the average value for drivers of passenger cars; and for the first passengers, the usage rate was only 54.2%, which is 33% less than the relevant average value.

Next week (6-12 March) ROADPOL is carrying out its planned Seat Belt Operation throughout the European continent.