Can Passengers influence driver behaviour?

1
FACT SHEET

• Can Passengers influence driver behaviour?
• Seatbelt statistics
• Car occupants form 65 of all road casualties.
• In 2004, 183,858 people were killed/injured
  while travelling in cars.
• Of these 162,210 were drivers or front seat
  passengers.
• A core 7 of drivers still fail to wear a
  seatbelt.
• Around a third of adults dont bother to belt
  up in the back seats.
• Women (96) are more conscientious than men
  (90) at belting up in the front.
• Without a seatbelt, in a 30mph crash you would
  be thrown forward with a force of between 30 60
  times

Recent research has shown that the crash risk for
particularly young male drivers increases when
they carry their peers as passengers, and that
the risk increases with each additional passenger
carried. Having friends in the car can encourage
drivers to behave in a more risky way. As a
passenger we have a responsibility for our own
safety, but also to think before we encourage
dangerous behaviour in others.
The most common excuse used by people who fail
to wear a seatbelt is I forgot, while about 1
in 6 people say they wont bother to strap in if
they are only travelling a short distance.
1 in 10 people said that they would be
embarrassed to ask a friend to put on a seatbelt
if they were travelling as a passenger in their
car.
A third of people say that wearing a seatbelt in
the back of a vehicle doesnt even occur to
them
1 in 6 people say they dont wear a rear
seatbelt because they either cant find the
buckle, or they say its uncomfortable.