SEAT BELTS (Hansard, 13 December 1973)

§ LORD ABERDARE

As my right honourable friend the Minister for Transport Industries announced in another place on May 1, he intended on behalf of the Government to consult the various interested bodies on means of intensifying the use of seat belts, including the desirability or otherwise of compulsion.1356WA He undertook to report the results to Parliament before any final decision was taken by the Government.

The consultations, and an attitude survey carried out during the summer, have shown that most people now accept the value of wearing seat belts. A substantial body of opinion wants or is prepared to accept compulsion: the Automobile Association, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the National Automobile Safety Belt Association, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and the motor insurance. A majority of chief police officers consider that it will ultimately be necessary. The Medical Commission on Accident Prevention stressed the value of seat belts in limiting the severity of injuries and said they would support any action to increase their use which the Government judged necessary.

On the other side, the Royal Automobile Club opposed compulsion on the grounds that further efforts should be made to increase the wearing rate by persuasion and by improving the design of belts; the Magistrates' Association and some of the police associations were also opposed to it on the grounds of the difficulty of enforcement. Others thought there should first be renewed efforts to persuade.

Several organisations thought that compulsion should be deferred until the design and installation of belts had been improved. Others took the contrary view, pointing to the savings of life and injury which the wearing of belts can bring now. The manufacturers have assured my right honourable friend, however, that improvements can, and will, be made. Any law requiring seat belts to be worn would of course have to allow for certain exceptions.

The Government now have a clearer idea of public opinion on this matter. The question of compulsion gives rise to issues of personal liberty and considerable problems of enforcement. The counter-argument is that if the proportion of people wearing seat belts could be raised from the present 30 per cent. to 90 per cent. nearly a thousand fewer people would die on the roads in a year and over 10,000 serious injuries would be prevented, and that such a result can be achieved only by compulsion.

1357WA

In considering the issue further the Government will take note of what is said in Parliament during the passage of the Road Traffic Bill; the question will first arise at the Report stage.