Launched in November last year, “Por amor usa el cinturon” (For love, use a seat belt) has seen seat-belt use increase from 55.3 percent to 71.2 percent, says state Health Secretary Jose Antonio Muñoz.
New statistics indicate that taxi drivers follow the seat belt law most faithfully of all: 93.4 percent now buckle up, compared to around 67 percent of the general motoring population.One reason why citizens are now complying with the obligatory law is that fines for not using a seat belt went up from 60 pesos to 605 pesos in February.
Traffic cops handed out 14,221 tickets to motorists for not wearing a seat belt in March but have slackened off since then, issuing just 3,000 between April and June.