Barking mad? One in four motorists fail to belt up pets

ALMOST one in four motorists have driven with unrestrained pets in their car, AA research has found.

A survey of more than 4,000 drivers found that a quarter admitted to travelling with an unharnessed pet in the car. And nearly 7% did this within the past month.

AA Car Insurance said that greatly adds to the risk of a crash as drivers become distracted by their pets’ movements.

It comes as AA Car Insurance launched a major advertising campaign with a dog called Mulligan – who appears to be driving around unrestrained in a car after talking about the virtues of AA’s insurance. He is wearing a harness and dog lead but the window is down and his paws are on the window ledge, watching people as his owner is driving.

AA said that the Mulligan’s behaviour was not meant to be emulated.

‘Many people will have seen our new car insurance advertising campaign with our dog Mulligan who is a big fan of driving around in the car, but if you are travelling anywhere with a pet it’s important that you use a pet safety belt or a travel carrier as opposed to having them loose in the car with you,’ Conor Faughnan, AA director of consumer affairs, said in a statement.

Mr Faughnan said that both humans and pets will suffer far greater injuries in a car crash if they are unrestrained.

There are strict rules about securing children and adults in cars with seat belts, but no rules about pets.

In 2013, Leo Varadkar, the then minister for transport, consulted with the Road Safety Authority about the potential for compulsory seat belts for canine passengers.

However, the Department of Transport said later that it had no plans to seek a change in the law.

In America, the campaign group, Bark Buckle up, which campaigns for seat belt laws for pets, said that in a 56kph accident, an unrestrained 27kg dog would carry the force of a 1,225kg projectile.