Seatbelt safety campaign in the works

A SEATBELT safety campaign could be run in Shetland after statistics showed not wearing one has been a major factor in one quarter of fatal collisions.

This could take the form of emergency services staff speaking on video about their experiences of attending accidents, Shetland Islands Council’s roads manager Neil Hutcheson said.

A report for a meeting of Shetland’s community safety and resilience board on Thursday said that “national campaigns generally do not land well locally” and said utilising Shetland staff could be more effective.

Hutcheson also said there are plans to re-establish a “collision review panel” in Shetland, which would be attended by emergency services and the council’s roads team.

He said this would look at road accidents which have caused injury and determine if anything can be done to address any contributory factors.

Solutions could come via engineering, education or enforcement, the meeting heard.

Meanwhile Hutcheson confirmed that wristbands, literature, posters and windscreen stickers have been provided by Transport Scotland to remind tourists to drive on the left hand side of the road.

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These items are set to go to car hire companies.

It comes amid road safety concern over some visitors driving on the wrong side of the road.

Last year a video emerged of a car on the wrong side of the road on the A970 in the Kames, narrowly missing another vehicle.

Police investigating after video of driver on wrong side of road