Compulsory use of children's seats or other harnessing in car rear seats will come into force on January 1 and seat belts for adults on rear seats will become compulsory on June 1, Transport and Communications Minister Censu Galea said.

The slogan for an educational campaign by the Malta Transport Authority in the run-up to their introduction is Tiehux Riskju fuq Hajjet Uliedek (Don't take risks with your children's lives).

The authority has prepared two educational spots to be aired on television, as well as posters and leaflets, on the types of seats that are recommended for the use of toddlers and children aged between one and 11.

The educational material is being distributed from shops, local councils, schools and other outlets.

Addressing a news conference yesterday, Mr Galea appealed to drivers not to wait until June 1 to start using the seat belt or to install children's seats on the rear seats of the car.

The requirement will be imposed on cars which have seat belts installed when manufactured.

Most cars produced in Europe after 1991 are equipped with in-built seat belts and there are only a few cars that do not have them.

There is no requirement to fit old cars with seat belts because they could actually be more dangerous.

Mr Galea referred to the authority's campaigns to reduce road accidents and said that between July and September a total of 358 persons had been involved in traffic accidents. Four of these - including a motorcyclist and three passengers - died. Seventy-four were seriously injured and the rest were slightly injured.

Mr Galea said that a look at the statistics showed that a number of the persons injured were riding in the rear of the vehicle.

There were also a number of instances where the driver or passenger in the front seat died or was seriously injured because they were hit by passengers in the rear of the vehicle, who were not wearing a safety belt.

An alarming factor emerging from statistics was that 25 per cent of passengers riding in the rear of a car were children aged under 12.

Mr Galea said an average of 20 road deaths are recorded each year in Malta.

A positive aspect was that although the number of cars on our roads had increased - 265,000 cars and vehicles - the number of deaths remained stable.

Even if Malta had opted not to join the EU, the country would have adopted the target set by the EU's transport ministers to reduce road deaths by half by the year 2010.

Although the children's seat was a requirement, unfortunately one could still find children sitting on their parents lap even in the front seat.

Asked about whether he was happy with enforcement of regulations with regard to driving under the influence of alcohol, Mr Galea said that at present the law stipulated that to apply the breathalyser test the police had to be suspicious after seeing erratic driving or after a traffic accident and the driver was found to be under the influence of alcohol.

He said that, unfortunately, although regulations governing drink driving were introduced a number of years ago there were people who still drove when under the influence of alcohol.

As such the law did not permit the police to stop a driver and apply the breathalyser test and, therefore, one could see whether regulations should be changed, Mr Galea said.

Mr Galea said the authority was presently in the process of tendering for more speed cameras. Some of these cameras would be installed at traffic lights to curb abuse.

The authority's chief executive officer, Mario Falzon, referred to various safety campaigns being planned by the authority. These included campaigns in connection with overspeeding, the use of mobile phones while driving, the proper use of the outside lane in roads and of zebra crossings.

The campaigns were part of the strategy to reduce road accidents.