Friday 25 April 2025
Football kits are switching in aid of a charity initiative to highlight the importance of wearing a seatbelt. The kit switch will see the vertical stripes on Basingstoke Town FC’s kit change direction to mimic the position of a seatbelt.
The campaign, launched by The AA Charitable Trust, will begin with the charity’s local team, Basingstoke Town FC, wearing a one-off limited edition kit featuring a seatbelt motif at its final match of the season (26/04).
The initiative has received the backing of footballing legend Ian Wright, who discussed it on ‘The Overlap’ podcast, hosted by Gary Neville this week (24/04).
During the match, against Merthyr Town FC, the campaign will run a stadium takeover with perimeter boards and even special matchday napkins, car park flags and beermats.
The messaging will remind people to ‘Buckle-Up” as recent analysis from the AA Trust shows almost half (43%) of young passengers (17-29) who die in car crashes are not belted.
“Football is a fantastic way to reach young people, who sadly, are disproportionately represented as unbelted fatalities.”
There will also be a focus on reminding fans that seatbelts matter, whatever the length of the journey.
Additional research*, commissioned exclusively by the AA Trust, into attitudes to wearing seatbelts among new and learner drivers shows a sixth (14%) say they are less likely to wear a seatbelt on a short journey as a passenger.
More than one in twenty (7.6%) said they are less likely to wear a seatbelt on a short journey as a driver.
Edmund King, AA Charitable Trust director, said: “We are really excited to kick off this stage of our seatbelt campaign with Basingstoke Town FC.
“Football is a fantastic way to reach young people, who sadly, are disproportionately represented as unbelted fatalities. Even on short journeys, like the ones many fans make every weekend through the season, it is absolutely vital to wear your seatbelt – doing so halves the risk of death in a crash.
“If you get to the match by road, whether that’s in a car, taxi, minibus or coach, it is vitally important you buckle up.
“It’s great to have the initiative supported by The Overlap and we hope this it will inspire other clubs to consider backing our campaign and even switching their kits for a one-off match.”
Future of Roads Minister, Lilian Greenwood, said: "This eye-catching campaign is a brilliant way to reach young people with a life-saving message. Buckling up takes seconds but cuts your risk of death in half.
“With so many young passengers still not wearing seatbelts, this football partnership is exactly the kind of creative thinking we need to keep our young people safe. Our THINK! ‘Click’ campaign similarly reminds young drivers and passengers to belt up on every journey, and in every seat.”
Footballing legend Ian Wright said: “Wearing a seatbelt is the simplest thing you can do to protect yourself when you’re in a car, no matter if you’re driving or getting a lift.
“It reduces the risk of death in a crash by 50 per cent.”
Jack Miller, Chairman of Basingstoke Town Community FC, said: “We’re delighted to support this important campaign to ‘buckle up’.
“Road safety is something that affects everyone, including our fans, players, and the wider community.
“The seatbelt kit is a striking reminder of a simple action that saves lives, and we’re proud to wear it for one special match for both our men’s and women’s teams.
“Hopefully, it sparks conversations and makes a lasting impact.”
New AA Charitable Trust Research**:
To highlight the important message behind the kit switch, the AA Charitable Trust has run new research into drivers’ attitudes to seatbelts.
The results show a stubborn minority of drivers admit they would not wear a seatbelt in multiple situations if there was no chance of them getting caught.
Travelling in the backseat (3%), taxis (3%) and minibuses and coaches (7%) and are the most likely scenarios people say they would take the risk of not wearing their seatbelt.
One in twenty (5%) of young drivers (18-24) would risk going beltless in the backseat if there was no chance of being caught (vs 3% across all ages).
Only a quarter (26%) say they would refuse to travel in a vehicle with no seatbelt (either because it was broken or the vehicle was exempt). Almost half (47%) of young drivers (18-24) said they would travel in a vehicle without a seatbelt.
The AA Charitable Trust created a Seatbelts Factsheet here.
The AA Charitable Trust recently called for six penalty points for new drivers caught not wearing their seatbelts, under a raft of proposed measures to improve new driver safety.
There also needs to be a continued focus on the importance of seatbelt wearing to help reduce the number of people needlessly killed every year.
At the end of the season The AA Trust will be contacting other football clubs and their professional associations to encourage them to raise awareness of the campaign with their younger players and academies.
Edmund King added: “ For any football club, young players are their most valuable assets and therefore ensuring they stay safe on the roads is vitally important. Research shows that teenagers are most at risk from serious injury as passengers or drivers when unbelted.”
*FirstCar research of 1,734 new and learner drivers June 2023
** Yonder received 11,233 responses from AA members to its online poll between the 11th to 18th March 2025. Yonder is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.