The South West Film and Television Archive (SWFTA) is the regional film archive for the South West of England. Established in 1993, SWFTA's core collection comprises of the combined programme libraries of Westward Television and TSW (Television South West). The archive also cares for a significant number of donated film collections, both amateur and professional, dating back to the early 1900s.
This film is part of Free
Compulsory Seatbelts
It is time to belt up with the introduction of compulsory seatbelt-wearing and fines for not clicking it in.
From the collection of:
Overview
TV reporter Bob Crampton interviews Inspector John Kemble Beatty of the Plymouth Traffic Centre on the introduction of compulsory seatbelt-wearing. The new law comes into force at midnight on 31st January 1983. Swedish carmaker Volvo introduced seatbelts in the fifties as an accessory but by 1959 the 3-point belt was fitted as standard. Britain did not introduce the compulsory fitting of front seatbelts to cars until 1967 and rear seatbelts followed in 1987.
Compulsory seatbelt-wearing for children came in 1989 and for adults in 1991. Child seats were made compulsory in 2006 with some EU countries imposing stricter rules in an effort to reduce deaths on the roads. Although compulsory seatbelt-wearing came in very late in the UK, public information campaigns tried and failed to convince drivers to wear their seatbelts. Following a rise in deaths on the roads across Europe, seatbelts were fitted and made compulsory in the EU on school buses and coaches. The police car is a Ford Granada produced from 1972 in Cologne in Germany and in its British factory at Dagenham but only until 1976.
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