Belt up folks.
An Garda Síochána have issued a special appeal to road users to ensure they wear their seatbelts over the Bank Holiday weekend.
The Gardai are usually particularly vigilant about road offences on Bank Holiday weekends throughout the year and ahead of this weekend, they are placing an emphasis on ensuring that drivers and passengers alike buckle up.
While issuing the appeal, the Gardai revealed that almost 8,000 fixed charged notices have been issued for not wearing seatbelts in 2015 and that one third of people who have died in road accidents this year were not wearing a safety belt at the time of collision.
Chief Superintendent Mark Curran, Garda National Traffic Bureau said: “Of the nearly 8000 fixed charge notices that have been issued to drivers and passengers for not wearing a safety belt, we have found that our younger drivers and passengers are the ones failing to wear a safety belt the most often.
“Whilst we know that the vast majority of people wear a safety belt, it is startling to think in this day and age, anyone, especially the 20-39 age groups who have been exposed to huge road safety education over the past few years are choosing not to wear this simple but life saving device.
“Safety belts work in conjunction with every other safety feature in cars, in particular airbags, and not using a safety belt renders them all virtually useless. Please see the merit in using your safety belt at all times. It saves lives and we cannot put it anymore simply.”
You can read the appeal in full here.
