The Republic of Srpska

The results of the action of increased control of traffic participants with special emphasis on using seat belts and safety seats in the Republic of Srpska, implemented by Police Administration in February this year, are alarming. Namely, out of the total number of 26.867 traffic participants that were controlled, 8,131 or 32.69% of them were driving without using seat belts. Out of the total number of 1,247 passengers that were controlled, 318 or 25.5% of them were not using seat belts. The total number of 301 children younger than 12 who were in the controlled vehicles, 116 of them were not sitting in a safety seat. Another alarming information is that, on the territories of some public security centers, such as PSC Doboj, where drivers in 100% of cases were not using seat belts, or on the territory of PSC Prijedor, where the police detected that out of 46 children passengers, 39 or 84.78% of them were not using safety seat. Since the monitoring of traffic security situation on the roads of the Republic of Srpska in 2015 showed that the number of persons who were killed, suffered serious or light injuries increased by 15.1% compared to 2014, one can conclude that the degree of using seat belts and safety seats for children is very low, and that not using them significantly contributed to the increase of the number of persons who died or suffered injuries in traffic accidents. The Republic of Srpska Ministry of the Interior appeals to all the participants in traffic to follow traffic regulations in order to protect their own as well as the lives of other participants in traffic.