RESEARCH TO DESCRIBE POLICE ENFORCEMENT OF OCCUPANT RESTRAINTS

The primary aim of this study was to gain an overall understanding of the occupant restraint program from the police perspective. This report gives the following details of the study's findings. Police at all levels tend to see restraint enforcement as important, but they see it as just one component of the major objective of reducing road trauma. They do not perceive non-compliance as a major problem, except in small pockets such as certain cultural groups, rear seat passengers and children. In addition, detection of non- compliance is not easy. The effectiveness of restraint enforcement is not something that the police can easily measure, but they do not see this as a problem since they consider themselves to be effective in their overall ability to increase the number of safe drivers on the road. They see their relationship with the media as valuable and efficient and they see the role of the Roads and Traffic Authority as one of providing enforcement support and educational materials. The report also makes several recommendations on possible improvements to the occupant protection program.