Failure to wear a seatbelt could result in penalty points as well as fines, under a new package of measures to improve road safety.

The Department for Transport is considering 74 measures, and one of them is increased penalties for failing to wear a seatbelt.

Currently, offenders are given an on-the-spot fine of £100.

27 percent of car deaths in 2017 involved people that were not wearing a seatbelt – one in four car deaths could have been prevented by a seatbelt.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: “Today’s action plan is a key milestone in our road safety work and sets out the important steps we are taking to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads.”

The department will be considering the report from the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) on seatbelt use.

It analyses which drivers and passengers are least likely to wear seatbelt, what prompts their behaviour and which interventions would be best to reduce casualties.

A Rural Road Users Advisory Panel will also be set up to investigate how to boost road safety in rural areas, including improving roads and traffic signs and the issues around speed limits and enforcements.

Road Safety Minister Michael Ellis said: “Far too many people are not wearing a seatbelt while travelling in a car needlessly putting their lives at risk.

“Increasing penalties for people who disregard the simplest of way of protecting themselves is just one of a long lists of actions this government is taking to help keep people safe on the roads.”

The action plan builds on a number of projects in the Road Safety Statement published in 2015 which saw increased enforcement for drug driving and doubling penalties for using a handheld mobile at the wheel.

The Government is currently consulting on banning tyres aged 10 years and older from buses, coaches, minibuses and lorries. If proposals are supported new laws could be introduced later this year to come into force early 2020.