Hutt City Councillor Chris Milne believes the police should be spending their time on more important things than ticketing people not wearing seatbelts in carparks

A Hutt City councillor whose wife was fined $150 for not wearing a seatbelt in a carpark is questioning the use of police time that could have been "better spent" catching burglars.

Chris Milne is angry his wife was ticketed after being spotted driving in a council carpark not buckled in.

A complaint to Hutt South MP Chris Bishop resulted in a Parliamentary question that found seven drivers had been stopped in Daly St and fined for not wearing seatbelts on the same Friday evening, September 21.

SUPPLIED The law says you have to have your seatbelt on if you're moving and on a road.

"To me they have just made a quick thousand bucks. That is what it looks like to me. It is easy money but all they have done is piss people off."

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Drivers are required to wear a seatbelt if their car is in motion and on a road, although there is an exemption if the driver cannot reverse safely wearing a belt.

KEVIN STENT/STUFF Hutt City Cr Chris Milne is angry his wife was fined $150 for not wearing a seatbelt in a council carpark.

The incident happened after Milne's wife got into her vehicle in the Riverbank Carpark and drove a short distance before putting on her belt.

She observed a parked police car, as she exited the carpark.

When she drove on to Daly St she was pulled over by another policeman, who issued the ticket despite her pointing out she was by then wearing her belt.

Kevin Stent Hutt's Riverbank Carpark is considered a road and drivers have to use their seatbelt once a car is in motion.

She appealed the ticket on the grounds that she was in a council carpark and not a road and that the officer who issued the ticket had not seen her driving without her seatbelt on.

"I would very much appreciate it if, given the above explanation, you could waive the ticket. I will be more careful in future."

Police rejected her appeal saying it was clear she had driven without a seatbelt and an offence had occurred.

Kevin Stent Chris Milne believes police should be targeting burglars rather than people not wearing seatbelts in a carpark.

Chris Milne raised the matter with the council's lawyer, Brad Cato, suggesting a council carpark was not a road.

Cato replied that the public had access to the carpark and it could be considered a road, adding that the definition of road was "so ridiculously broad that it just about covers everything".

Automobile Association road safety spokesperson Dylan Thomsen said the circumstances of the ticket were "intriguing" but the AA strongly supported wearing seatbelts.

"About one in four people who die on our roads annually are not buckled up."

A significant number of accidents occurred on short journeys, when people were leaving home or work.

"If you are going 30 kmh and something happens and you have to slam on your brakes, people would be amazed at the force involved."

He also rejected the argument it was a waste of police resources.

"It makes perfect sense for the police to focus on seatbelts. The AA are right behind the police getting out and making their presence felt."

A police spokesperson said the police were not carrying out a specific operation targeting people not belted up.

"We are trying to save lives and keep people safe. You can't hit pause in a crash, so buckle up before you go."

Milne, however, remains unconvinced and believes the police went too far in ticketing his wife.

"The law has definitely been broken but what happened to police discretion in terms of how they operate."

Road policing manager Inspector Derek Orchard said ticketing people not wearing seatbelts was part of the overall approach to reduce fatalities.

A report commissioned by the AA Foundation in 2017 found overwhelming evidence that seatbelts save lives.

"By wearing a seatbelt during a crash, an occupant's chances of survivability are increased by 60 per cent in the front seats, and 44 per cent in the rear seats."

The report looked at 200 road deaths between 2011 and 2015 involving not wearing seatbelts. Key finds included.

* Three out of four fatalities were male and 83 per cent were on rural roads

* In 2016, 29 per cent of all fatalities involved not wearing a seatbelt

* Of the 200 people killed, 78 were doing short "utility trips" like going to the dairy or heading home from work.