Seat - Belt Campaigns: new and well-tried messages used to great effect

1 February 2010

The UK Department for Transport has been promoting the use of seat belts since the early 1970s, long before it became compulsory by law to use one. Its THINK! Campaign is continuing to work on reinforcing the message to new generations of drivers and passengers and the latest February 2010 campaign uses a mixture of powerful TV, radio, cinema and outdoor advertising, supported by our online seat belt crash simulator to remind drivers of the potentially fatal consequences of not wearing a seat belt.

RoadSafe welcomes thelatest  £1.3 million campaign shows that if you have a crash without wearing a seat belt you actually experience three crashes, even at everyday speeds like 30mph. First, your car crashes and stops. Second - because there's nothing to stop you moving - your body carries on and hits the inside of the car. Third, you stop but your internal organs keep moving, hitting the inside of your body and can rupture under the force of the impact.

North Yorkshire's road safety team has revived one of the most recognised campaigns in living memory to emphasise the importance of wearing seatbelts. 'Clunk click every trip', was launched by Sir Jimmy Savile in 1972 and the veteran broadcaster - now aged 83 - is supporting this latest version of the campaign by 95 Alive the York and North Yorkshire Road Safety partnership.

The WHO seat belt manual launched last year is a practical guide to implementing, enforcing and evaluating seat-belt and child restraint programmes, and consists of a series of 'how to' modules. It provides evidence of why the use of seat-belts and child restraints is important and takes the users through the steps needed to assess the situation in their own countries. It then explains the steps needed to design, plan and implement a seat-belt and child restraint programme