Buckle up call – Senior Constable Allen Inderwisch from Casey

By Kelly Yates
POLICE are clamping down on motorists and passengers who fail to belt up with a blitz throughout the City of Casey.
Forty years after the introduction of seatbelts and police say it seems motorists still haven’t got the message.
Operation Pin Ball, which was launched on Tuesday, coincides with the 40th anniversary of vehicle restraint legislation, which made it compulsory for all car occupants to wear a properly secured seatbelt.
Casey Highway Patrol Sergeant Pat McGavigan said police have handed out 61 tickets for seatbelt offences in Casey during the first week of the two-week crackdown.
“And that’s not including the 244 other offences we’ve got. It is disappointing people still aren’t wearing them, despite all of the advertising about this operation,” Sgt McGavigan said.
“They are a life saver and people are choosing not to wear them. It’s a choice.”
Motorists, passengers and unrestrained children will be a key focus of the operation as well as the transport and heavy vehicle industry as police hit the streets for the remainder of the operation.
“We’ll be out and about in marked and unmarked cars and on the police motorcycle,” Sgt McGavigan said.
Motorists caught driving without a seatbelt will receive a $239 fine and lose three demerit points.
Passengers will also face a $239 fine if found travelling without a seatbelt. Deputy Commissioner for Road Policing, Ken Lay said it was disappointing that despite clear evidence that seatbelts saved lives, some people were still failing to take the simple step of buckling up.
He said more than a fifth of drivers fined during State Highway Patrol traffic operations this year across the state were found not wearing the life-saving device. In 2008, 42 drivers and passengers who lost their lives on Victorian roads were not wearing seatbelts, while in 2009, 41 drivers and passengers who died were not wearing seatbelts.
So far this year, Victoria Police believes as many as 15 drivers and passengers who have been killed on the roads were not wearing seatbelts.
“Wearing a seatbelt is one of the easiest things people can do to protect themselves and their families on the roads. Time and time again police are attending serious injury and fatal collisions involving people not wearing seatbelts. In so many instances people would have survived or escaped with minor injuries had they been wearing a properly secured seatbelt,” Mr Lay said.
“That is why it is so incredibly frustrating for police when we continually catch motorists without seatbelts. There is no excuse for this and over the next two weeks we will be strongly focusing our efforts on seatbelt enforcement and awareness.”
Mr Lay said there was a clear co-relation between the introduction of seatbelt laws and a drop in the road toll. Operation Pin Ball ends Saturday 14 August.