Drivers told to buckle-up to avoid spinal injuriesRSS Feed

Motorists are being told to fasten their seatbelts to reduce their risk of sustaining a spinal injury if they are in an accident on the roads.

The Buckle Up – We Don't Want New Members campaign sees 45 members of the QuadPara Association of South Africa stationing themselves on national roads in the country and encouraging drivers to observe this basic safety rule, the Star reports.

One of the association's members, 33-year-old Ernest Sithole, said he might not be wheelchair-bound now if he had been wearing his seatbelt when he was involved in a car accident 12 years ago.

Speaking to the Star, James Direro, the Gauteng coordinator of the campaign, said that the impact of not wearing a seatbelt can be "devastating and the cost immeasurable."

"You will regret not wearing a seatbelt," he added.

According to the Department for Transport, those not wearing a seatbelt are twice as likely to die in a car crash. It said that, in 2007, as many as 300 lives could have been saved if all car occupants had been wearing seatbelts.

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