Abkhazia: Seatbelt rules loosened for city drivers

Motorists will be free to leave their seatbelts off in Abkhazia's capital, Sukhumi

Drivers in Abkhazia won't have to buckle-up so often in future, as officials have decided current seatbelt laws are too strict, it's reported.

Anyone driving within city limits in the breakaway Georgian republic will now be allowed to travel without being strapped in, Abkhazia's official news agency Apsny reports. Previously that would have led to a hefty fine, but the region's interior minister says the current seatbelt rules are difficult to enforce in practice.

"Adults are capable of driving a few streets from home to work without buckling up," Leonid Dzapshba says. "People should always come first - let's not conduct experiments on our own people." Mr Dzapshba adds that with speed limits set between 40 and 60km/h (25 to 37mph) in cities, he believes safety "will not be affected" by the rule change. That's not a view shared by traffic experts around the world, who agree that not wearing a seatbelt doubles your chance of serious injury or death in an accident. The seatbelt law is still in force for major highways with faster speed limits.

Statistics on road safety in Abkhazia are hard to come by, but according to one EU-funded news website the republic has one of the highest rates of road fatalities in the Caucasus region.

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