Only 50% of Lorry drivers “belt up”

ReturnLoads.net is all for safety on the roads & securing your safety belt when driving doubles your survival rate in the case of a serious road accident, yet according to truck-maker Volvo, only half of truck drivers choose to belt up.
 
Traffic & Prduct Safety Director of Volvo Trucks Carl Johan Almqvist says “If more road users wore their safety belts, more than 7,000 lives would be saved every year in the EU alone. Professional drivers should serve here as an example,”
The chances of surviving a serious road accident are doubled if the driver or passenger uses a safety belt. This can be seen, for instance, in the most recent World Health Organisation (WHO) report entitled ‘Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013’. The report emphasises increased belt usage as one of the most crucial issues for improving traffic safety. Legislation Today requiries safety belt usage in 111 countries the world over and, as of 2006, compulsory belt use has been required in the EU for both cars and trucks.
Almqvist also had this to say “In recent years belt usage has increased among truck drivers, but even so, fewer than half use the safety belt. And that’s despite the fact that both our own and other European research has revealed that at least 50 per cent of truck drivers who lost their lives in traffic would have survived if they had been belted in. Of all truck drivers involved in fatal accidents, only five per cent were wearing their safety belts,”

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