Behavioural Economics: Getting People to Wear Seat Belts

Can you think of a dozen motoring offences off the top of your head? Instinctively I can write down speeding, driving while using a mobile phone, driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, driving without insurance or valid documentation and failing to wear a seat belt. The latter is often the target of the local police and I noted in my own paper last week that in just one day,over two hundred drivers were caught doing this on a busy road - it carries a £60 fixed penalty fine. Can public information adverts make a difference? The video below makes the point effectively in my view. The excuses that drivers offer police when stopped range from the obvious ("I forgot") to the bizarre ("I am suffering from diarrhoea"). In a recent UK national study, of the 1,059 car occupants killed in crashes, 21 per cent were not wearing a seatbelt.