Stowmarket man says wearing a seatbelt could have saved his sight

Waspe said he recovered, but had lost the majority of his sight.

Over the years he has had several guide dogs which he described as “marvellous”.

“For people who don’t believe in [seatbelts], why would Formula 1 racing drivers wear a harness if they weren’t any help,” Waspe said.

“It’s so important.

“On that day, had I put the belt on immediately, I would have had some bruises and I wouldn’t have lost my good eye.”

Ch Insp Gary Miller from Suffolk Police’s joint Roads and Armed Policing Team said it was hard to believe people when they said they had forgotten to put their seatbelt on.

“I think with seatbelts sometimes people think it’s only me that I’m putting at risk,” he said.

“Invariably you are the one that’s going to be suffering that level of injury, but because you’ve not taken account of that you’re likely to require an ambulance response, end up in hospital, all those other things that knock on from that.

“Society is then paying the cost for it because you haven’t taken that safety measure that you should do.”

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