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class="MsoNormal">New driving offences for people who fail to use seatbelts or the correct restraints on children in cars will come into effect this weekend.

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class="MsoNormal">Drivers will be penalised for putting their child in the front of a car in a rear facing seat and if they do not have their child in “an appropriate child restraint” such as a child or booster seat.

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class="MsoNormal">In addition there are new offences for bus and truck drivers too for failing to wear a seatbelt and for having an overweight truck.

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class="MsoNormal">55 people have lost their lives on August Bank holiday weekends since 2000.

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class="MsoNormal">Transport Minister Leo Varadkar is reminding all road users – in cars, on bikes and on foot – to take care in the coming days.

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class="MsoNormal">“Shocking as it may sound there are still motorists who permit children under 3 to travel without being properly restrained” he said.

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class="MsoNormal">“Failing to wear a seatbelt or allowing a passenger to travel unrestrained is a breach of the law and you risk a fine and penalty points on your licence which will remain in place for 3 years” he added.

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class="MsoNormal">Statistics released by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) earlier this month have shown that in the first 6 months of this year 23% of drivers killed and 29% of passengers killed were not wearing seatbelts.

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class="MsoNormal">It says a particularly worrying feature was the number of people not wearing a seatbelt who were ejected from the vehicle.

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class="MsoNormal">Conor Faughnan is from the AA Roadwatch.

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class="MsoNormal">He says people who fail to make their children wear seatbelts now face severe punishment.

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