Drivers aged 25 to 34 'least likely to always wear seat belt', survey suggests

Drivers aged 25 to 34 are the least likely to always wear a seat belt in a car, a new survey suggests.

Road safety charity Brake, which commissioned the poll, said this could be due to young people often being “more willing to take risks on the road”.

A total of 2004 drivers were questioned for the research.

Just 62% of those aged 25 to 34 said they always wear a seat belt in a car.

That is compared with 96% for those 55 and older, 94% for 45 to 54 year-olds, and 74% for 35 to 44 year-olds.

For those in the 18 to 24 category, 71% said they are always belted up when in cars.

Just 0.2% of women said they never put their belt on, compared with 1.4% of men.

Wearing a seat belt in cars has been a legal requirement for drivers and front seat passengers on UK roads since 1983, and for back seat passengers since 1991.

The punishment for not wearing one is a £100 fine, rising to £500 for cases taken to court.

Department for Transport figures show more than one in five car occupants killed in recent years were not wearing a seat belt.

Brake’s head of campaigns Jason Wakeford said: “Research shows that younger drivers and passengers are generally more willing to take risks on the road, including actively choosing not to wear a seat belt.

“Also, younger drivers are more likely to believe they have heightened protection from vehicle safety features, like air bags and ABS (anti-lock braking systems), meaning they can take more risks behind the wheel.

“It is tragic that, despite these major technological advances, it remains the case that people continue to die or be catastrophically injured because some of us are still not using the most basic and vital vehicle safety feature of all – seat belts.”