The disregard of seat belts is one of the all-time most common road traffic safety violations, LETA was told by the Public Relations Office of Latvian State Police.
The law provides a fine of EUR 30 to EUR 70 to be imposed on the driver of the vehicle for not wearing a seat belt or carrying a passenger who is not fastened.
A total of 9 847 such violations were recorded in Latvia last year, and 10 609 the year prior.
At the same time, police do not have statistical information as to how many of the punished people are minibus and bus drivers.
When performing road safety monitoring, road police always check the use of seat belts. Police are on high alert whenever there is some event or campaign, as well as at the beginning of the school year, police say.
As previously reported, on the 10th of January, pupils of Ventspils Musical High School choir “Nošu planēta” and singers of vocal studio “Mazā prinča planēta” were injured in a road traffic accident on Ventspils motorway. One of choir’s conductors died in the crash. One of the pupils of Ventspils Musical High School later died at hospital. The the minibus that was carrying the children collided with two cargo trucks.
Dace Barkeviča, Chief Medical Officer of the Emergency Medical Center of the Children’s Clinical University Hospital, told LTV that the injured passengers of the vehicle were not strapped in. Latvian State Police confirmed to LETA that an investigation is underway.