Are Teen Passengers Really Buckling Up? The Seatbelt Gap at 12–15

Quick answer: Passengers aged 12 to 15 in reported killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties were recorded as not wearing a seatbelt in 18% of cases, the same share as adults aged 19 and over, in the Department for Transport (DfT) child casualty factsheet. Younger children were better protected, at 11% for ages 6 to 11 and 13% for ages 0 to 5, while older teenagers aged 16 to 18 were highest of all at 24%. These are shares within serious casualties only, not wearing rates for all passengers, and that distinction matters throughout this article.

The seatbelt gap in one table

Table 3 in the factsheet gives the percentage of passengers in reported KSI casualties recorded as not wearing a seatbelt, by age group:

• 0 to 5: 13% not wearing a seatbelt
• 6 to 11: 11% not wearing a seatbelt
• 12 to 15: 18% not wearing a seatbelt
• 16 to 18: 24% not wearing a seatbelt
• 19 and over: 18% not wearing a seatbelt

The factsheet states the finding in its own words: children aged 12 to 15 were equally as likely as adults aged 19 and over to be recorded as not wearing a seatbelt as a passenger, while children aged 11 and below are more likely to be wearing a seatbelt. Protection is strongest for the youngest passengers, and it weakens sharply at age 12, reaching the adult level four years before adulthood.

On dates, the factsheet page gives no year or year range for Table 3, unlike other tables labelled 2025 or 2024 to 2025. No year is attached to these figures here, and they should not be read as a 2025 result. Source: DfT child casualty factsheet.

Why 12 to 15 stands out

The 12 to 15 group matters because it accounts for so much of the serious harm to children. In 2025, children aged 12 to 15 accounted for almost half of all child KSI casualties, according to the same factsheet. A seatbelt gap in this age group therefore affects the largest group of seriously hurt children, not a small edge case.

The step is sharp: the share rises from 11% at ages 6 to 11 to 18% at ages 12 to 15, then stays at 18% for adults aged 19 and over. The oldest teenagers go further still, at 24%.

Readers should note the age definitions. The factsheet defines a child as someone aged 0 to 15. The 16 to 18 band is shown in Table 3 for comparison, but those teenagers sit outside the factsheet's definition of a child. The 18% figure for 12 to 15 is a child figure; the 24% figure for 16 to 18 is not.

Passengers in the wider child casualty picture

Table 3 covers passengers only. For context, the factsheet records 41 children aged 0 to 15 killed and 2,432 killed or seriously injured in Great Britain in 2025. Children were 3% of fatalities and 8% of KSI casualties. Pedestrians were 50% of child KSI casualties, car occupants 20% and pedal cyclists 17%.

Timing adds context: between 2021 and 2025, 46% of weekday child KSI casualties occurred between 3pm and 5:59pm and 12% between 8am and 8:59am. Among children aged 6 to 11, 70% of KSI casualties occurred within 500 metres of an age-appropriate school in England, measured as straight-line distance and showing proximity only.

A comparison trap must also be avoided. An earlier article on this site, How Many Children Die on Britain's Roads Each Year?, reported 64 children killed in 2024, using ages 0 to 16 from the DfT annual report for 2024. The 2025 figure of 41 uses ages 0 to 15 from the factsheet. The two totals have different age bands and different years, so they must not be read as a simple fall from 64 to 41. The full 2025 road toll is set out in How Many People Die on Britain's Roads Each Year?.

What the numbers do not prove

Table 3 describes passengers who were already killed or seriously injured and whose seatbelt status was recorded. It does not show what share of all 12 to 15 year old passengers travel without a seatbelt on an ordinary journey. Casualty-based shares will always look worse than everyday wearing rates, because a passenger without a belt is more likely to be seriously hurt when a collision happens. The 18% figure must never be rewritten as "18% of teenagers do not wear seatbelts".

The factsheet also does not explain why the gap exists. It contains no survey of attitudes, no breakdown by seating position and no account of trip length in the pages behind Table 3. This article therefore offers no reason for the step at age 12. Any explanation would need a different source, and none is claimed here. Road safety factors in the factsheet are recorded by the reporting police officer and are recorded factors, not proven causes.

How these numbers were counted

All seatbelt figures come from Table 3 in the Department for Transport's child casualty factsheet, based on police-reported personal injury collisions recorded through the STATS19 system on public roads in Great Britain. In these statistics, a road death means a person who died within 30 days of the collision. A child in the factsheet means someone aged 0 to 15. KSI means killed or seriously injured. Injured casualty figures are adjusted for changes in how some police forces record injury severity.

Only police-reported collisions are included, and slight injuries are under-reported. Table 3 carries no year, so none is attached here. Figures for every council area are on the UK road accidents page, and live reports are on today's accident reports.

In this story

• Road accidents reported today