document_title: Seat belt legislation

question_text: when did it become law to wear seat belts

root

text: Seat belt legislation

text: National comparisons[edit]

text: Australia[edit]

text: In Australia, after the introduction of mandatory front outboard mounting points in 1964, the use of seat belts by all vehicle passengers was made compulsory in the states of Victoria and South Australia in 1970 and 1971, respectively.[1] By 1973, the use of fitted seat belts by vehicle occupants was made compulsory for the rest of Australia and some other countries during the 1970s and 1980s. The subsequent dramatic decline in road deaths is generally because of seat belt laws and subsequent road safety campaigns.[2][3][4] Seat belts are not required for bus occupants, reversing drivers, and those driving some slow moving vehicles. The laws for these differ depending on the state or territory with jurisdiction.

tag: p

text: Canada[edit]

text: All provinces in Canada have primary enforcement seat belt laws. In 1976, Ontario was the first province to pass a law which required vehicle occupants to wear seat belts.[5]

text: United Kingdom[edit]

text: In the United Kingdom, seat belts must be worn at all times if they are fitted to a vehicle unless reversing. Passengers may be exempt from wearing a seat belt for different reasons. Since September 18, 2006, children travelling in the UK must also use an appropriate child seat in addition to the standard seat belt, unless they are 12 years old and/or have reached at least 135 centimetres (53 in) in height.[6]

text: In the UK, a requirement for anchorage points was introduced in 1965, followed by the requirement in 1968 to fit three-point belts in the front outboard positions on all new cars and all existing cars back to 1965.[citation needed] Successive UK Governments proposed, but failed to deliver, seat belt legislation throughout the 1970s. Front seat belts were compulsory equipment on all new cars registered in the UK from 1972, although it did not become compulsory for them to be worn until 1983. Rear seat belts were compulsory equipment from 1986 and became compulsory for them to be worn in 1991. However, it has never been a legal requirement for cars registered before those dates to be fitted with seat belts.[7]  In one such attempt in 1979 similar claims for potential lives and injuries saved were advanced.  William Rodgers, then Secretary of State for Transport in the Callaghan Labour Government (1976–1979), stated: "On the best available evidence of accidents in this country - evidence which has not been seriously contested - compulsion could save up to 1000 lives and 10,000 injuries a year."[8]

text: United States[edit]

text: In the United States, seat belt legislation varies by state. The state of Wisconsin introduced legislation in 1961 requiring seat belts to be fitted to the front outboard seat positions of cars.[9]  Seat belts have been mandatory equipment since the 1968 model year per Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208.

text: New York State passed the first law in the US mandating the use of seat belts in 1984 under the leadership of John D. States, an orthopedic surgeon who dedicated his career to improving automotive safety.[10]  Depending on which state a driver is in, not wearing a seat belt in the front seat is either a primary offense or a secondary offense, with the exception of New Hampshire, which does not have a law requiring people over age 18 to wear a seat belt. In the front seat, the driver and each passenger must wear a seat belt, one person per belt. In some states, such as New York, New Hampshire, and Michigan, belts in the rear seats are not mandatory for people over the age of 16, though it is extremely advised. The driver and front-seat passengers aged 16 or older can be fined up to $50 each for failure to buckle up. In California, you must be 15 years or older to accompany the driver in the front seat. Children 14 and younger must sit in the rear seat until they reach the age of 15.Template:DMV.org

text:
A primary offense means that a police officer can pull a driver over for the seat belt law violation alone, and secondary offense indicates that one can be punished for a seat belt law violation only if they are already pulled over for another reason. By January 2007 25 states and the District of Columbia had primary seat belt laws, 24 had secondary seat belt laws, and New Hampshire had no laws.[11]
In 2009, Public Health Law Research published several evidence briefs summarizing the research assessing the effect of a specific law or policy on public health. One stated, "Safety belt laws work, but there is strong evidence to support that primary enforcement safety belt laws are more effective than secondary enforcement laws in increasing seat belt use and reducing crash injuries."[12]

text: Another found that "there is strong evidence that enhanced seat belt enforcement interventions can substantially increase seat belt use and its associated benefits."[13]

text: Developing countries[edit]

text: In many developing countries, pedestrians, cyclists, rickshaw operators and moped users represent the majority of road users.

text: In India, all cars manufactured after March 25, 1994 are equipped with front seat belts. The rule was extended for rear seats in 2002. The usage of seat belts is to be implemented by the respective states, with most states making seat belt usage for front seat passengers mandatory in 2002. Older vehicles that did not originally have seat belts were exempted. However, enforcement is weak in most parts of the country.

text: In Indonesia, belts are only mandatory for front seats. Many low entry car models are not equipped with rear seat belts.[14]

text: In Malaysia, the first stage of safety belt laws was implemented in 1979. This was expanded in January 2009 to include rear passengers. Passenger vehicles registered prior to January 1, 1995, and those weighing more than 3.5 tons are exempted from this rule. The third and fourth stages, which will deal with baby and child seats and the number of passengers in a vehicle, have not taken effect.[15]

text: In the Philippines, a seat belt law, Republic Act No. 8750, was approved in August 5, 1999. The law took effect in 2000 and requires all public and private vehicles, except motorcycles and tricycles, to have their front seats equipped with seat belts. Front seats as defined by the law includes the first row of seats behind the driver for public utility buses. Those below the age of six are prohibited to occupy the front seats of motor vehicles even if wearing a seat belt. Jeepneys are only required to have lap belts for the front seat passengers and the driver.[16][17]

text: The table below gives an overview of when seat belt legislation was first introduced in different countries. It includes both regional and national legislation.

text:
Country
Compulsory wearing
Compulsory fitting
Source

Cars
Bus passengers
Cars
Buses

Driver
Front passengers
Rear passengers

 Argentina
1994

1994
1994 (First row only, all in school buses)
[18]

 Australia
1970 (Victoria), 1971 (SA, NSW), 1972 (national), 1986 (child restraints)

1969, 1970 (back seat, Victoria) 1971 (back seat)
1983 (≤3.5 tonnes)
[19][20]

 Canada
1976

 Czech Republic
1966 (outside cities)1990 (all)
19761990
2004
1968

[21]

 European Union
1993

[22]

 Finland
1975
1982
1987
2006

 France
1973 (outside cities), 1975 (cities at night), 1979 (all)
1990
2003
1967, 1978 (back seat)
2003
[22]
[23]

 Germany
1976
1984
1999
1970, 1979 (back seat)
1999
Angurtpflicht

 Hungary
1976

1993

[19]

 Hong Kong
1983
1983
1996
2004 (minibuses)
1996 (back seat)
2004 (minibuses)

[24]

 India

1994 (front seats), 2002 (rear seats)

 Ireland
1979

1992

1971 (front seats), 1992 (rear seats)

[25]

 Italy
1989
1990 (where available)‡
2006‡
1988 (new vehicles); 1989 (all*, front seats); 1990 (new vehicles, back seats); 2000 (all*, back seats)
2006
[26]

 Japan
1971† (1985)
1971 (no fines), 1985 (fines on freeway), 1993 (all)
2008
2008
1969

[22]

 Myanmar
2017
2017
2017
2016 (motorway buses enforced)

 Netherlands
1976
1992

1975 (front) 1990 (rear)

 New Zealand
1972
1972 (15 years and over), 1979 (8 years and over)
1989♣

1972 (vehicles registered after 1965), 1975 (after 1955)

[27]

 Philippines
2000 (those below 6 years prohibited to occupy front seats)

2000 (first row beside the driver's seat only)
2000
[28]

 Singapore
1973
1973
1993
2008 (small buses)
1973

 Spain
1975

 Sri Lanka
2011
2011

 Sweden
1975
1986
1969 (front) 1970 (rear)
2004
[22][29]

 Thailand
1996
2009

 United Kingdom
1983
1991
2006
1967 (front) 1987 (rear)

[30]

 United States
1984 (New York; seat belt use law is jurisdiction of individual states)

Wisconsin, 1961. Federally, front lap 1965 model year; front shoulder & rear lap 1968; 3-point front 1974

[22]

text:
* - actually only vehicles registered after 15 June 1976; in previous registered vehicles fitting is optional
† - required by the law, but no penalty for violation at the time
‡ - required by the law, but low enforcement
♣ - definitely introduced by this date, possibly earlier

text: Effects[edit]

text: Studies by road safety authorities conclude that seat belt legislation has reduced the number of casualties in road accidents.

text: Experiments using both crash test dummies and human cadavers also indicated that wearing seat belts should lead to reduced risk of death and injury in car crashes.

text: Studies of accident outcomes suggest that fatality rates among car occupants are reduced by between 30 and 50 percent if seat belts are worn.  The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that death risks for a driver wearing a lap-shoulder seat belt are reduced by 48 percent. The same study indicated that in 2007, an estimated 15,147 lives were saved by seat belts in the United States and that if seat belt use were increased to 100 percent, an additional 5024 lives would have been saved.[31]

text: An earlier statistical analysis by the NHTSA claimed that seat belts save over 10,000 lives every year in the US.[32]

text: According to a more recent fact sheet produced by the NHTSA:

text: By 2009, despite large increases in population and the number of vehicles, road deaths in Victoria had fallen below 300, less than a third of the 1970 level, the lowest since records were kept, and far below the per capita rate in jurisdictions such as the United States. This reduction was generally attributed to aggressive road safety campaigns beginning with the seat belt laws.[34][35]

text: A 2008 study in the Journal of Health Economics found that mandatory seat belt laws in the U.S. "significantly increased seatbelt use among high school age youths by 45-80%" and "significantly reduced traffic fatalities and serious injuries resulting from fatal crashes by 8 and 9%, respectively."[36] The authors note that these "results suggest that if all states had primary enforcement seatbelt laws then regular youth seatbelt use would be nearly universal and youth fatalities would fall by about 120 per year."[36]

text: Opposition[edit]

text: A number of groups and individuals are opposed to seat belt legislation. The most common grounds for opposition are:

text:
The view that laws requiring the wearing of seat belts are an infringement of individual liberty.
Claims that official estimates of the number of lives saved by seat belts are overstated or fail to take into account additional risks for other road users.

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text: Risk compensation and other theories[edit]

text: The most common basis for disputing estimates of the benefits of seat belts is risk compensation  and risk homeostasis, advanced by researchers John Adams and Gerald Wilde. The idea of this theory is that, if the risk of death or injury from a car crash is reduced by the wearing of seat belts, drivers will respond by reducing the precautions they take against crashes. Adams accepts the hypothesis that wearing seat belts improves a vehicle occupant’s chances of surviving a crash.[37] In order to explain the disparity between the agreed improvement in crash survival and the observed results, Adams and Wilde argue that protecting someone from the consequences of risky behaviour may tend to encourage greater risk taking. Wilde states, "to compel a person to use protection from the consequences of hazardous driving, as seat belt laws do, is to encourage hazardous driving. A fine for non-compliance will encourage seat belt use, but the fact that the law fails to increase people's desire to be safe encourages compensatory behaviour." [38]

text: Studies and experiments have been carried out to examine the risk compensation theory. In one experiment subjects were asked to drive go-karts around a track under various conditions. It was found that subjects who started driving belted did not drive any slower when subsequently unbelted, but those who started driving unbelted did drive consistently faster when subsequently belted.[39] A study of habitual non-seat belt wearers driving in freeway conditions found evidence that they had adapted to seat belt use by adopting higher driving speeds and closer following distances.[40] In another study, taxi drivers who were habitual non-wearers were timed over a route with passengers who did, and others who did not, insist on the driver wearing a belt. They completed the route faster when belted.[41]

text: In addition to risk compensation, Adams has suggested other mechanisms that may lead to inaccurate or unsupportable predictions of positive benefits from seat belt legislation.

text:
Case-control studies based on voluntary use of safety aids can attribute to the aid benefits that actually come from the risk-averse nature of those likely to use them voluntarily (confounding), particularly early adopters.
Fatality rates are subject to considerable stochastic noise, and comparison of single years or short periods can be misleading.

text: Individual liberty[edit]

text: Opponents have objected to the laws on libertarian principles.[42] Some do so on the grounds that seat belt laws infringe on their civil liberties.  For example, in a 1986 letter to the editor of the New York Times, a writer argued that seat belt legislation was "coercive" and that "a mandatory-seat-belt law violates the right to bodily privacy and self-control".[43]

text: A counterpoint to the libertarian view is that by reducing death and serious injury, mandatory seat belt use and enforcement of seat belt laws results in substantial social benefits. For example, an analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that in 2010 non-fatal injuries to motor vehicle occupants cost the United States $48 billion in medical expenses and lost work.[44] An example is an unbelted driver who kills or injures another road user because he/she slides out of proper seating position and cannot regain control of the vehicle during slippery conditions. Another notable scenario is of rear-seated passengers being forced forward in a crash and thus inadvertently harming the driver or front passenger. A University of Wisconsin study demonstrated that car accident victims who had not worn seat belts cost the hospital (and the state, in the case of the uninsured) on average 25% more.[45]

text: Side-effects of seat belts[edit]

text: Neck injuries can be caused by the deceleration from a high speed. The passengers head continues to move forward while the body is restrained, potentially causing paralyzing injuries. A study of such injuries notes, "Seatbelts save lives. However, they may cause injury to adjacent structures and when they malfunction can cause injury to the abdominal viscera, bony skeleton and vascular structures. The motor industry has attempted to reduce these injuries by modification of vehicle design and safety equipment."[46]