Not enough back seat car passengers are using seatbelts, the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention has warned.

Just two-thirds are buckling up in the back seat, indicating that this safety step has not yet become a reflex action for many. Rear passengers have been obliged by law to wear seat belts since 1994.

The annual representative survey of seatbelt usage found that 87 per cent of drivers and 88 per cent of front seat passengers wore seatbelts, more or less unchanged since last year.

There was a slight increase in seat belt usage for rear passengers, from 65 to 68 per cent. However the safety body claims this is still insufficient.

"A passenger in the back who is not wearing a seatbelt puts not only himself in danger but also those in front in the event of a collision."

If everyone in Switzerland observed the law obliging them to wear seatbelts, there would be 40 fewer deaths and 150 fewer seriously injured on the country's roads every year , the council says.

swissinfo.ch

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