A new report has revealed that a lot of company vehicle drivers are still not wearing a seat-belt when behind the wheel.

The AA has released its Clunk Click report which found that over one third of vehicle occupants killed in collisions on the United Kingdom’s were not wearing seat belts. Results showed that only 69% of company vehicle drivers which include people who drive vans, buses, lorries, a minibus or coaches will regularly wear a seat-belt.

It did not state how many company car drivers fail to wear their seat-belts, but did say there is a lower seat belt wearing rate amongst company car drivers. This same group are also less likely to have seat-belts on late at night or early in the morning. The AA report reveals that wearing seat-belts will more than halve the risk of death in the event of a collision. Almost 300 lives each year will be saved if all vehicle occupants were belted up.

Edmund King, AA President, said “It is astonishing that one third of vehicle occupants killed do not wear seatbelts. In the current safety debate with concerns over road safety funding there is one thing that could be done overnight to save 300 lives per year at no cost – that is every vehicle occupant to belt up on every journey.”

The AA now recommends that the new Coalition Government should seriously consider increasing the penalty for anyone not wearing a seat belt to include penalty points as well as a fine. They also feel that police should carry out more spot-checks particularly on back seat passengers and offer seat belt education courses.

All drivers should insist that each passenger wears a seat-belt belt. All employers who have drivers who drive vans which are covered with commercial vehicle insurance need to be stricter with their drivers who don’t belt up as it is highly likely they are invalidating the policy.