§ Mr. Viggersasked the Secretary of State for Transport what is his estimate of the number of lives which would be lost and the number of people who would become disabled if the wearing of car safety belts were made compulsory.
§ Mr. HoramI know of no firm evidence that anyone has been killed in a road accident because he was wearing a seat belt, and would have survived without it. The conclusion drawn by the Transport and Road Research Laboratory from a detailed study of 1,100 accidents was that the chances of injury being increased by wearing a seat belt is less than one in 1,000. At present seat belts save nearly 400 lives a year; and if they were all worn, 1,000 more lives would be saved.