City Police campaign under way to increase passive safety in driving

11/01/2021 - 14:53 h

Safety and prevention. Checks will mainly focus on the correct use of seat belts, crash helmets and child restraint systems.

The campaign means checks around the whole city throughout week. The last campaign of this type was conducted from 28 September to 4 October last year, resulting in 238 formal denouncements.

The main aim of the Local Road Safety Plan 2019-2022 is to cut accident rates and the number of road deaths and serious injuries. To this end, the City Police are acting on road safety in various ways such as this campaign, which starts today and will run all week.

The goal is to cut the number of road accident victims and the seriousness of injuries, particularly relating to the incorrect use or lack of passive safety elements: seat belts, airbags, child restraint systems, headrests and helmets.

The campaign is also part of the scheduled planning and coordination by the Central Traffic Service with local police corps and the Regional Traffic Areas of the Catalan police force.

Seat belts and helmets

The use of seat belts is highly effective in reducing victims in traffic accidents and also in terms of the seriousness of injuries. Because of this, their use and compliance with current regulations needs to be enforced. Checks will be made to see that drivers and all possible passengers are using seat belts, with cases of non-compliance to be formally denounced, along with checks to see that safety belts work properly.

Seat belt checks will be carried out on all vehicles, including light vehicles equipped with self-protection structures and safety belts, as specified on their corresponding technical inspection cards.

At the same time, the non-use or insufficient use of authorised crash helmets as a passive safety element for motorbikes and mopeds will also result in formal denouncements. The vehicles of drivers who do not use them will also be immobilised.

Light vehicles of a similar nature will also be subject to checks where they are equipped with self-protection elements and safety belts, as specified on their technical inspection cards, as the use of seat belts is obligatory in this case.

It is worth remembering that the person responsible for passengers wearing helmets is always the driver/rider.