A POLICE operation in Ryedale found that drivers are still risking their lives and failing to use a seatbelt.

Officers have now expressed their dismay that the message that seatbelts save lives is still being ignored 25 years after the use of seatbelts became compulsory by law.

Police officers carried out the roadside safety checks under Operation Anvil and stopped a number of vehicles in the Ryedale and Scarborough areas. They found that 39 motorists were not wearing a seatbelt.

Acting Sergeant Richard Hammond, of the Eastern Road Policing Group, expressed concern at the drivers’ lack of regard for safety.

He said: “Motoring poses many hazards to drivers and passengers, so it beggars belief that people can put themselves at further risk by not wearing a seatbelt. “We are shocked that, despite hard-hitting publicity campaigns highlighting the dangers, people are still prepared to risk death and serious injury by not wearing their seatbelts. It takes seconds to put on a seatbelt, those few seconds could safe your life. Why take the risk?

“Even minor collisions can be fatal if you don’t belt up.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re a driver or passenger, taking a quick trip to the shop or a longer journey; it’s just not worth the risk to your life and those of others.”

The checks took place on the A64 on the Ryedale/Scarborough border last week as well as on the A171 road between Scarborough and Whitby.

Research shows that motorists are twice as likely to die in a crash if they are not wearing a seatbelt and that nearly 300 lives would almost certainly have been saved in 2007 if all car occupants had been wearing a belt.

Operation Anvil is the force’s hard-hitting casualty reduction campaign, supported by the “95 Alive” York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership.

The campaign was launched in March with the aim of reducing death and injury on the county’s roads.