DELIVERY drivers in Widnes and Runcorn who need to travel more than 50 metres are now required to wear their seatbelts or face a run-in with the law.

Changes to the law which came into force on Tuesday mean that only on the very shortest journeys can seatbelts be left undone.

The law states that it is now compulsory for drivers and passengers in vehicles constructed or adapted to carry goods to wear their belt when making deliveries or collections if they travel more than 50m - roughly the width of an average football pitch.

The Department for Transport estimates that 20 deaths, 240 serious casualties and 1,000 slight injuries could be avoided every year if the rate of seatbelt wearing in commercial vehicles is brought up to the level seen in cars.

Until now goods vehicles have been exempt from seatbelt law when making local rounds of deliveries or collections. However, some van and goods vehicle drivers wrongly consider themselves as exempt regardless of the distance they are travelling.

The law is being amended to clarify that the exemption applies only to very short journeys.

Road safety minister David Jamieson said: 'Following consultation, we decided that 50m was a reasonable distance to travel without wearing a seatbelt when undertaking deliveries or collections.

'Those carrying out genuine house-to-house calls will not be affected by the change.

'Making the law on this issue clear will help us bring down the number of delivery drivers risking injury by not wearing a seatbelt.'

Rates of seatbelt wearing among van drivers are particularly poor with 30% of drivers and 43% of their passengers failing to belt up. The wearing rate for car drivers is much higher at 93%, and 94% for front passengers.