Police will be distributing road safety pamphlets at Crow Lane and busy traffic lights today in a bid to encourage motorists to obey new seatbelt laws.

The new law kicked in at the start of this year and while drivers have been given a one year grace period, as of January 1 2004 disobeying the law will be punishable with a fine.

The notice being handed out by Police spells out that if a vehicle is equipped with seatbelts, children under 14 in the front and back seats and adults in the front seats will be required to wear them.

Police are using the grace period to decide on such issues such as seatbelt legislature for taxi drivers, public bus drivers, trucking crews, and ambulance drivers.

Overcrowding a vehicle is still an offence.

A Police spokesperson yesterday said seatbelt caution tickets had been issued for statistical purposes but were dropped because they were creating excess work for officers.

"The Police will not pull you over for not wearing a seatbelt, they will give you a verbal caution," said P.c. Foggo.

"But beginning January 1, 2004, they will begin to issue tickets for fines as a fixed penalty,"

In an unofficial survey, 53 percent of vehicle drivers were seen to be not wearing seatbelts, and as time approached 9 a.m., speeding increased and seatbelt wearing decreased. P.c. Donald of Somerset stresses the importance of road safety. "Even travelling at 20mph, significant injury can be sustained without a seatbelt," he said.