Luton Borough Council’s Road Safety Team launched ‘Belt Up For Life’ at the Festival of Transport in Stockwood Park on Sunday 8 June 2008. This new campaign aims to encourage more people to wear seat belts and use the correct child restraints, by raising awareness of the safety benefits and the law.

Luton Borough Council commissioned a survey of seat belt wearing rates in the town last autumn. The survey was conducted at 31 sites throughout the town, 22 of which were located near schools and 9 on major traffic junctions.

Incredibly, the survey found that:

- around one in five children were not properly restrained, and one in ten were not restrained at all
- one in five adults outside schools were not wearing seatbelts

Luton’s Road Safety Team launched the campaign at their exhibition stand with a seat belt quiz competition, information about seat belt wearing and the consequences of not wearing one.  The Emergency Services recreated a crash scene in the central arena to show what happens at a crash site.

“Belt Up For Life” will be promoted at all the summer events attended by the Road Safety Team, as part of a two-year programme of education, publicity and enforcement activity. The programme is funded and supported by the Department for Transport and members of the Bedfordshire and Luton Casualty Reduction Partnership.

Cllr Don Wording, portfolio holder for the environment said: "Seat belt wearing isn’t just a sensible precaution to protect drivers and passengers, it is also illegal to travel anywhere without the driver and all passengers, front and back, wearing seat belts at all times.

“We hope this campaign will encourage everyone to Belt Up For Life and reduce the number of needless casualties resulting from not wearing seat belts.  It only takes a few seconds to belt up, and make sure all your passengers have too, but potentially a whole lifetime to regret not doing so."