A new road safety initiative aimed at heightening awareness over safetybelts is asking children to enforce the law.
The National Safety Council's "Seatbelt Sheriff" campaign hopes to address the State's poor seatbelt-wearing rates, and the high rates of death and serious injury as a result, by deputising thousands of school children between the ages of six and eight.
Cowgirl Lauren Devitt (6) at this morning's launch
Under the programme, primary school children pledge not only to always wear their seatbelts but to ensure that all passengers are buckled up.
"Ireland has a serious problem with the wearing rates of seatbelts, particularly in relation to young children in the back of cars," Council chairman Mr Eddie Shaw told ireland.com.
"There is a particular problem with parents not strapping kids up properly," he said.
Between 1998 and 2002, more than 2,500 children under the age of 14 were killed or seriously injured in road traffic accidents. Mr Shaw blamed the failure to buckle up as the primary reason those accidents had such serious consequences.
A campaign to enlist children was not a sign of desperation over the inability to change the bad habits of adults, said Mr Shaw.
"Adults are difficult. The behaviours and attitudes of adults are pre-formed. When it comes to something like safety belts, as an adult you either realise it and behave, or you do not. Kids are not pre-formed. Kids will take guidance, instruction and education," said Mr Shaw.
Children are also highly influential when it comes to getting adults to wear seatbelts, he added.
"When you explain why it is important to wear seatbelts . . . and explain that if they do not wear them they are a danger to everybody else in the car, we have found that works. If you give [children] the responsibility, they will do it."
According to the National Roads Authority, only 46 per cent of adults, 48 per cent of primary school children and 44 per cent of secondary school children wear safety belts.
Mr Shaw said the goal in Ireland was to get 90 per cent of all car travellers to buckle up. That target would rank Ireland among the best performers in the world, including Sweden, Finland, The Netherlands and parts of the UK and Australia.
The Seatbelt Sheriff campaign is part of an ongoing effort to reduce fatalities and major injuries on Ireland's roads, said Mr Shaw.
The campaign is a joint initiative between the National Safety Council and Renault. An Irish language version will be distributed around the country and to school in Gaeltacht areas.