Dorset drivers and passengers told to 'buckle up'
The county's fire service say the amount of people killed in crashes, who weren't wearing seatbelts, is 'completely shocking'
Dorset's Fire service is urging drivers and passengers to 'buckle up' when getting into cars.
Road Safety Co-Ordinator at Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, Mandy Pantall, called the figures 'completely shocking'.
She said: "There's a lot of people can be fooled into a false sense of security thinking that their airbags will save them and other things in the car will save them.
"But that's not necessarily the case, and it really is vital that you use this life saving tool which takes all of two seconds to put in place."
We do NOT want to hit an airbag when it's inflating
Mandy told us airbags work in tandem with seatbelts to save lives if a crash occurs.
While a vehicle might stop instantly during a crash, that momentum is transferred into our bodies, but the seatbelt reacts and begins pulling us back into our seat as the airbags explode and inflate.
This means we make contact with the airbag as it deflates.
Mandy said: "When an airbag explodes, it explodes out at 200 miles an hour, at a surface temperature of 90°C and up to 400 psi. That's the pressure of four lorry tyres.
"So you do not want to be hitting that as it inflates, you need to hit it as it is deflating."
She's encouraging all of us to make good decisions and to 'buckle up', and that it's imperative young people aren't fooled by 'optimism bias' of something not happening to them.
Mandy told us not wearing a seat belt leaves puts our chances of survival in a crash down to chance and luck:
"We have to remember when we're talking about outcomes of careless driving, if we're not making those positive behaviour choices, if you don't give yourself the best chance, you're relying on a roll of the dice every single time you get in that car.
"We are all able to make good decisions and that's what we ask people to look at and we get them to consider the fact that one simple choice can make them or break their future, and it's trying to give them the tools and the understanding of what goes on so that they can make the correct decision."