Belt up call for dogs

BELT-UP should be more than just a frustrated response to a yapping dog, if a survey of 715 Australian drivers is any indication.
Eighty-three per cent of drivers surveyed by Autotrader Magazine said it should be illegal to carry dogs in a car without a safe restraint.
Most respondents felt that laws should be introduced to better protect their furry companions. More than half (54 per cent) said it should be law to “provide restraints to protect dogs and others in an accident” with 32 per cent of respondents feeling that legal restraints were necessary because dogs can be “distracting”.
Karina White, the magazine’s corporate affairs manager, said Australia had one of the highest percentages of dog ownership per capita in the world.
“So we are obviously a nation of animal lovers,” Ms White said.
“Protecting them and others in an accident has obviously become a priority for Australian drivers.
“Having a 10 kilo dog loose in the car means that the force hitting you or a passenger in the car is 20 times its weight,” she said. “This is based on deceleration in a car during an accident being 20 times the force of gravity.”
Ten per cent of respondents felt “dogs shouldn’t have to wear seatbelts,” with the minority of drivers, at seven per cent, suggesting that legal restraints were not necessary on the basis their dogs were well behaved.
Ms White said the survey found dogs are travelling inside as well as outside vehicles.
“We need to look after pets however possible, which may mean installing seatbelts within vehicles, especially built for dogs,” she said.