About Seat belts

The use of seatbelts in the front seats of a car became compulsory in 1983 and for back seat passengers in 1991. Since the introduction of these laws thousands of lives have been saved. However, despite the law, hundreds of people who are not wearing seatbelts at the time of a crash are still killed each year. As a driver you are responsible for ensuring that anyone under the age of 14 wears a seat belt or uses an appropriate child restraint as required by law.

At just 30mph an unbelted rear seat passenger thrown forwards in the event of a crash will have a force of between 30 and 60 times their body weight. Each year a number of drivers and front seat passengers are killed by unbelted rear seat passengers. The message is clear ‘Belt up!’.