Man guilty for having 13 in Volvo - no one was wearing a seatbelt!

A teacher has been found guilty of dangerous driving after being stopped by police for having 13 people travelling in his Volvo car.
Abraham Gniwosch, from Tottenham, north London, pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving in Llandudno, Conwy, on 8 August last year.

He was given a 12 month driving ban and ordered to pay over £900 in a fine and costs by Llandudno magistrates.

Gniwosch, 31, was also ordered to take an extended driving test.

Traffic policeman, Pc Roger Brazel told the court he had stopped the car just as it turned into a farm park near Mostyn Avenue in the town.

He said he had done this because of the "serious dramatic overloading" in Gniwosch's red Volvo saloon.

The court heard how an adult male and a boy were sitting in the passenger seat.

In the back there were two women with infants on their laps, the other six passengers, all young children were either sitting or standing in the centre section of the back seat.

None of the passengers was wearing a seatbelt.

When used properly, seat belts decrease the number of serious injuries by 50 percent and reduce fatalities by 60 to 70 percent. And if you think you don't have to wear one when you're driving just to the local store, think again. Seventy-five percent of crash injuries and deaths occur within 25 miles of home, and more than half of all the injury-producing accidents occur at speeds less than 40 miles per hour. Here are some other sobering 2005 statistics from the NHTSA:

    * Use of safety belts makes a significant difference in whether you end up in the hospital or not. One person in six who was wearing a seat belt at the time of a crash went to the hospital compared with one in three who wasn't wearing a seat belt.
    * Getting thrown from a vehicle is usually an injurious or fatal event. In fatal crashes in 2004, 74 percent of people who were thrown from a vehicle were killed; that's three out of every four people! Safety belts prevent people from being ejected from vehicles: Only 1 percent of people wearing belts were thrown out of vehicles versus 29 percent of those not wearing belts. (See 5 Common Myths.)
    * Lap/shoulder safety belts work. When used correctly, they reduce the risk of fatal injury to people sitting in the front seat by 45 percent and the risk of moderate-to-critical injury by 50 percent. For light-truck occupants, the track record is even better: reducing the risk of fatal injury by 60 percent and moderate-to-critical injury by 65 percent.