It's no wonder a motoring group's director is astounded by the number of people fined for not wearing a seatbelt.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In the 2013-14 financial year there were 309 notices issued to people who were not using the restraint in just this region, a new report from the state government showed.
The number had risen by 45 from the previous year.
Worse still, in March 2014 alone, 46 notices were issued by police in the Orana area to people for not putting on their seatbelt - the highest monthly tally of the offence recorded in the past eight years.
The NSW government made wearing seatbelts compulsory in 1971.
Drivers and passengers have had more than 40 years to become aware of the new law.
The government also conducts extensive campaigns to tell people to belt up, and generations have now been around for those.
As NRMA western NSW director Graham Blight said, children as young as five know the rules.
Yet adults persist in offending.
Why they do that when seatbelts save lives is incomprehensible.
An average of 50 people are killed and 300 are injured each year for not wearing seatbelts.
And yet it is a measure available to everyone that can increase your chances of survival in a crash, which would seem reason enough to do it.
Sadly we know that for every person caught, there are likely to be more people going undetected, suggesting the problem is bigger.
The science is there, the fines are in place, the police are on patrol - it's up to the individual to click-clack.
After all, it's the individual's own life at risk.