§ Mr. Meacherasked the Minister of Transport if he will publish the results of the most recent surveys undertaken by or on behalf of his Department into the safety and quality of seat belts.
§ Mr. FowlerVarious investigations into safety belts have been carried out by the Transport and Road Research Laboratory—TRRL. Two reports published in the last 18 months are No. 811 "The effectiveness of seat belts in reducing injuries to car occupants", and No. 882 "The edge-locking performance of some seat belt inertia reels". In addition, Birmingham university has been carrying out a continuous programme of accident investigation on behalf of the Department. An important work based on this is a 1978 Ph.D. Thesis by S. J. Rattenbury entitled "Usage and Effectiveness of Seat Belts". Other papers include another by S. J. Rattenbury entitled "The Biomechanical Limits of Seat Belt Protection"; D. K. Griffiths "Car Occupant Fatalities and the Effects of Future Safety Legislation"; and a paper by G. M. Mackay and others presented to the International Research Committee on the Biokinetics of Impacts conference in Birmingham in September 1975. The latter paper can be obtained from IRCOBI secretariat, 109 Avenue Salvador Allende 69500 BRON, France. Others are available at the University of Birmingham or by arrangement through lending libraries.