Police press home message that seat belts save lives

A woman driver escaped injury when her car overturned in an accident on a highway because she was wearing her seat belt, police said on Monday seeking to press home the message that seat belts save lives.

The 35-year-old was driving on the Kophinou-Larnaca highway on Sunday afternoon when the car went off the road and overturned near Klavdia.

Members of the fire service were needed to cut the woman free from her vehicle.

She was taken by ambulance to Larnaca General Hospital for first aid. There it was determined that she had not sustained any injuries and she was discharged.

“From the examinations carried out at the scene and from the state of the car after it overturned, it is believed that the seat belt protected the driver from possibly serious injury,” police said in a written statement.

And it added: “It has been proven that seat belts save lives and are a road safety measure of the highest importance, both for drivers and passengers,” it added.

The announcement came only days after a 20-year-old woman died when she was thrown out of the car driven by a 24-year-old man who was hospitalised with serious injuries. Neither were wearing a seat belt.

Deputy traffic police chief Haris Evripidou told CyBC that the woman, in the accident in the early hours of New Year’s Day, would probably be alive today had she been wearing her seat belt.