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Incoming seatbelt laws 'could have car insurance implications'

01/02/07

The introduction of new seat belt laws should help to reduce the number of children who are seriously injured or killed in road safety incidents, car insurance customers have been told.
 
Set to take effect in the UK on September 18th 2007, the incoming European Union (EU) rules state that car owners are no longer allowed to use rear-facing child restraints on the front passenger side of the vehicle - unless the corresponding airbag has been deactivated prior to setting off.
 
Moreover, all children's safety devices must be adapted according to the height and weight of the occupant.
 
Reijo Kemppinen, head of the European Commission (EC) in the UK, described the new rules as "an important step forward in road safety".
 
Meanwhile, Jacques Barrot, European commissioner for transport, echoed this sentiment by claiming it would help EU countries to reduce motoring casualties and improve overall road safety records.
 
"In 2001, 50,000 people died on Europe's roads," he said.
 
"This measure will save thousands of lives and help us meet the target of halving the number of deaths on the European roads by 2010."
 
According to figures from the EC, EU countries saw a total of 41,000 motoring deaths in 2005, in addition to 1.7 million injuries.
 
If the new laws did help to significantly reduce the number of road safety incidents, this could have a knock-on effect for car insurance rates.
 
Many car insurance companies pay out large sums of money for personal injury claims after a crash and then pass on the cost of this to other car insurance policyholders.
 
Thus, a decrease in road injuries could potentially enable car insurance companies to reduce car insurance premiums across the board.
 
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