A road safety expert has warned that a seatbelt accessory sold by a South African company encourages dangerous driving habits by allowing individuals to subvert their car’s seatbelt warning system.
“Buckle Buddy” is a customizable accessory that is essentially a detached seatbelt buckle, which motorists can insert into their seatbelt clip to stop their vehicle’s occupant alert.
Seatbelts are mandatory on public roads in South Africa and nearly all cars are now sold with an occupant alert system that plays a repetitive warning tone when it detects a person is sitting down without a seatbelt.
Buckle Buddy was invented for farmers, who typically spend a lot of time driving on private roads and dirt tracks around their land at low speeds, where seatbelts are not compulsory.
The accessory allows users to clip a false seatbelt buckle into the receiver, disabling the occupant alert system even when a person is in the chair.
It’s marketed as a convenience tool that is also useful when a person wants to place other objects on the passenger seat, such as a pet or heavy bag, which can still set off the pressure sensor the seat uses to detect when a person is sitting down.
However, the tool is now receiving backlash from road safety experts, who argue that it can be misused by individuals to ignore their seatbelt warning while driving on public roads.
Mike Scriven, the founder of Buckle Buddy South Africa, recently appeared on 702 to discuss the product.
He explained that he grew up on a farm in Limpopo and that one of the most annoying things he experienced was having to constantly take his seatbelt on and off while driving around, as he would frequently hop out to open and close gates and attend to various tasks.
The buckle buddy is only meant to be used by motorists driving on private tracks, and is not intended for public roads where seatbelt use is compulsory.
Scriven stated that the product is explicitly marketed for farmers and that a disclaimer is included with every purchase, warning motorists not to use the buckle buddy on public roads.
“We do not condone the use of Buckle Buddy on any public roads,” he said.
“I do think that seatbelts save lives, but when it comes to driving slowly on private farm roads, that’s where Buckle Buddy can be beneficial, used responsibly and legally.”
Concerns over misuse
Alida Venter, CEO of Drive More Safely, joined the interview to voice her concerns with Buckle Buddy.
She argued that the product is illegal and that the company cannot control who buys it.
The host rebutted this argument, saying that the potential for misuse does not make a product illegal in and of itself.
Venter doubled down, saying that there is still a risk involved with using the Buckle Buddy on dirt roads used by other motorists, labelling the device as a “deathtrap.”
She pointed out that using the Buckle Buddy will almost certainly void a person’s car insurance claim in the event of an accident.
“The problem with this thing is, it’s now branded, it’s in the colours of your vehicle… firstly, insurance is not going to pay you out. Secondly, you’re not going to have a claim with the Road Accident Fund,” she said.
“It allows people now to not use the seatbelt and to take away that which is there for a purpose, and this is my fight on this… we are now going to have this in vehicles where people just buy this and not obey the law.”
She highlighted that South Africa already has a worryingly high rate of non-compliance with regard to seatbelt use, and that this device further enables a dangerous habit.
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