BATHURST police are averaging more than one fine a day for drivers and passengers who fail to wear a seatbelt as the message to "click, clack, front and back" continues to fall on deaf ears.
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Local officers issued drivers with a total of 190 fines for failing to wear a seatbelt in just the last six months of 2019.
More worryingly, the latest figures from the NSW Office of State Revenue show highway patrol officers attached to the Chifley Police District wrote 46 fines in December alone - just as thousands of residents hit the road for the Christmas break.
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And 25 of the fines written between July and December 2019 were issued to drivers caught with a child aged between six months and four years travelling unrestrained in their car.
Over the same period, officers attached to Canobolas Highway Patrol wrote just 24 fines for seatbelt offences, worth a total of $8256 to the state's coffers, while officers from Orana Highway Patrol wrote 158 fines for seatbelt offences ($54,352).
The 190 fines issued by Chifley Police District officers in the first six months of the 2019-20 financial year - worth a total of $65,360 - have the district on track to surpass the 360 fines written throughout the whole of 2018-19 and set a new record mark for the region.
The trend continues a significant jump in the number of seatbelt offences in recent years, after Chifley officers issued just 108 fines in 2017-18, 140 in 2016-17 and 126 in 2015-16.
A fine six months
- July: 9 fines .............. $3096
- August: 38 ............. $12,072
- September: 26 ......... $8944
- October: 31 ............ $10,664
- November: 40 ....... $13,760
- December: 46 ........ $15,824
- Total: 190 ............... $65,360
