Munich (dpa/lby) – At the start of the new school year, Bavaria’s police again caught a large number of traffic offenders: A total of 1194 seat belt muffles and 417 insufficiently secured children were found during the four-day focus checks around schools, said Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) on Wednesday in Munich. “It is life-threatening not to be wearing a seat belt, especially on short journeys.”

Herrmann described it as absolutely irresponsible when parents did not properly secure their children in the car. “Even at low speeds, there is a risk of serious injury in a traffic accident or when braking abruptly,” said Herrmann. Buckle up save lives.

In 2021, 60 people died on Bavaria’s roads who were not properly secured, including a child, according to Herrmann. This is a significant increase compared to the previous year, when there were 45 related deaths, including one child.

“In 2021, more than every fifth car occupant who died in an accident was not wearing a seat belt,” emphasized Herrmann. Therefore, the police will continue to consistently pull belt muffle from the market. In the past year alone, around 32,000 violations of the seat belt requirement were punished throughout Bavaria.