ERROR RG P4 22.7.2000 A story in Thursday's newspaper about the possibility of seat belts becoming mandatory stated that the issue was first raised in 1993 following the death of 21-year-old Jerome Dill in a car crash. The crash victim was Jerome Belboda.

A bid for seat belt legislation will culminate in a written recommendation from the Road Safety Council to the Minister of Transport, council chairperson Roxanne Christopher said yesterday.

The recommendation is expected to reach the Ministry by August and the earliest it could become law is by Christmas as Parliament will go out for its summer break before then.

The recommendation will require the occupants of a vehicle to be secured in place by seat belts and any children in the vehicle will have to be secured in place with safety equipment, such as child seats or seat belts.

"Of course some vehicles will be exempt,'' said Ms Christopher.

Some older model vehicles do not have seat belts because in the late 1980's and early 1990's they were not required and manufacturers could cut cost by not installing them.

The recommendations are expected to be quickly reviewed by the Ministry then submitted to Parliament for debate and necessary amendments.

Ms Christopher said she placed great emphasis on child safety in her recommendations.

"I'm really concerned about how children are being transported. Children have to be protected first,'' she said. "We shouldn't have to wait to something happens.'' Ms Christopher added that she did not want drivers and passengers to wait until seat belt use became law before they started using them.

"We encourage people to start wearing them now. It just takes a few seconds -- a few seconds can save a life.'' The seat belt legislation was first brought up in mid-1993 when 21-year-old Jerome Dill died in a car crash and the coroner said that if he was wearing a seat belt, he might have survived.

And at the end of last month, Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott was involved in a collision and noted afterward that his seat belt had saved him from injury.