AS one of East Lancashire’s top casualty doctors Dr Sanjoy Bhattacharyya knows the importance of seatbelts — for he sees the horrific consequences of not wearing them.

Dr Bhattacharyya said: “Without a seatbelt the driver and passengers can be left with multiple injuries.

“A head would leave a bullseye on the windscreen. The chest could hit the dashboard which could affect the lungs and heart. Knees could hit the front of the vehicle and could result in dislocation.

“People not wearing a seatbelt can die at the scene and not make it to hospital at all.

“Or they can be maimed, left with disabilities and have a lengthy recovery instead of weeks it can be months.

“Those wearing a seatbelt will be left with a jolted neck, bruised chest and a possible a bump to the head.”

The Consultant and Clinical Operations Director in Emergency Medicine spoke out to back the Lancashire Telegraph’s Love Your Kids? Belt Them In! campaign.

The initiative was launched with the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety and the Blackburn with Darwen Casualty Reduction team after a shock survey revealed 53 per cent of local 10 year-olds did not wear sealtbelts.

Dr Bhattacharyya and his team in the Urgent Care Centre, deal with up to six minor or major car crashes each day and as a matter of course staff regularly ask if a seatbelt is worn.

Shockingly only 60 per cent of motorists wear seatbelts.

Dr Bhattacharyya said: “This is something close to my heart as we see so many road traffic accidents. Car crashes are the most common cause of serious injury in this hospital.

“If you are in a car or vehicle and it doesn’t have a seatbelt get at three-point one fitted. The lapbelts are not ideal they for example can rupture bowels in a crash which will require surgery and can leave someone disabled long term. If we have families who have been involved in accidents if the children are belted in properly we find they have no injuries and it is adults who are injured.

“If you have a seatbelt on correctly it reduces deceleration injuries. A three-point seatbelt will prevent a motorist going forward after a crash.”