EU ruling calls for full seat belt use in buses and vans
The measure is designed to help meet the EU target of halving the number of road deaths by 2010.
The directive also requires children less than 135cm tall to be restrained in cars by a seat adapted to their weight.
“The non-wearing of safety belts is still quite pervasive in Europe,” said EU spokesman Stefaan De Rynck, adding that in some EU countries as many as one third of passengers in front seats do not use seat belts.
Some 41,600 people were killed in road accidents in 2005 in the EU, a decrease of about 17.5% from 2001, according to the latest EU figures. People between the ages of 18 and 25 accounted for 21% of all fatalities in 2003.
The EU started tightening regulations on seat belts and bus safety after two serious bus accidents in Hungary and France in 2003 that killed a total of 61 people.
It has already banned side-facing seats in small buses and coaches.
Gardaí here arrested an average of 80 motorists a day on suspicion of drink driving during the recent four-day bank holiday weekend clampdown.
Despite the high-profile road safety campaign, six people were killed in collisions in the Republic while a seventh person died in Co Fermanagh. A total of 141 people have died on Irish roads to date this year.
