Seatbelts save lives -as police photographs show

A picture taken by a police officer following the crash at Sculthorpe (Image: Archant)

The crash happened days before the start of annual Europe-wide seat belt enforcement campaign.

The car involved in yesterday's crash in Sculthorpe. Police image (Image: Archant)

Norfolk and Suffolk Roads Policing Unit took the unusual step of publishing these dramatic pictures of the aftermath of the crash on Twitter to highlight the importance of using seat belts.

Chris Brooks, roads policing inspector for Norfolk and Suffolk, said it should serve as a timely reminder to make sure people always belted up.

He said: 'The fact that people wore seatbelts almost certainly ensured that nobody suffered any fatal or serious injuries. An officer took the pictures because he was amazed to see people walk away.

'A lot of the fatal collisions we deal with are due to one of four factors: people not wearing seat belts; drink driving; speeding or using a mobile phone while driving. Officers will be out looking for all of these things during the campaign.

'We crack down on these things all year round, but during the campaign we position officers in areas where these offences can often be detected and release data to give people a snapshot of what is happening on our roads.'

The seatbelt safety campaign will run between September 9 and September 15.

Insp Brooks said: 'That doesn't mean people will get away with not wearing a seatbelt any other time but this is all about raising awareness of the importance of wearing seatbelts and this crash should serve as a timely reminder of that.'

The head-on collision was between a Ford Mondeo and a Peugeot on the B1355 at Sculthorpe, near Fakenham at around 3.30pm on Thursday. Eight people went to hospital with minor injuries.

Anyone with information about the crash should call police on 101.