Seat belts: the forgotten safety technology?

With increased demands for safety technologies in cars, it would be assumed that the most simple of safety technologies, the seat belt, would also be popular. Research has found that seat belts are 50% effective at preventing fatal injuries in drivers, 45% effective at preventing serious injuries and 25% effective at preventing minor injuries. Yet research carried out by the Department of Transport (DOT) shows that of the 232 car occupants killed in 2013 (for which seat belt data was recorded), 45 were not wearing a seat belt, equating to 19%.

The first seat belt law came into force in January 1965, which saw all new cars in the UK required to have seat belt anchorage points on the outer front seats – and paved the way for far-reaching compulsory seat belt wearing laws in the decades after.