1983: SEAT BELTS become COMPULSORY | BBC News | Retro Transport | BBC Archive

Today - the 31st January 1983 - is the first day of the new law making the wearing of seat belts compulsory for all car drivers and front seat passengers.
Peter Gould reports from West London and John Thorne from Merseyside, to hear what drivers think about being ordered to belt up, and measure the level of compliance with the new laws.
Originally broadcast 31 Janunary, 1983.
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[@DCI-Frank-Burnside]

1983 when everyone looked like a geography teacher, even the kids.

[@theparanoidandroid3583]

Hot take: geography teachers are time travellers from 1983!

[@Cookies2132]

What is a geography teacher supposed to look like? 🤨😅

[@princesspinkblue]

@@Cookies2132just like all the men in the video… shaggy hair, moustache, brown suit 😂

[@PROUD_TRANS]

You mean looked like pedos

[@alexbiketester]

​@@Cookies2132like me.... I'm a geography teacher

[@markblakeut]

The man who said there was no decrease in accidents when wearing a seat belt was a little bit confused. Wearing seat belts doesn't magically stop people having motor vehicle accidents. It just prevents them ploughing through the windscreen when they do.

[@bernlin2000]

Yeah, why would a seat belt reduce accidents? If anything, I drive MORE carefully when I don't have my seatbelt on, because I know how much more dangerous an accident can be without that protection. So the risk of an accident probably goes down, but the risk of a DEADLY accident probably goes up.

[@2660016A]

The dumb dumb cretin was sitting in the Dunning Kruger gap before anyone knew it existed😜

[@trance_trousers]

@@bernlin2000 so you still drive a car without wearing a seatbelt?! in 2022?!

[@Matty112uk]

And they can still die even if their airbag deployed or they didn't go through the front window. A big enough jolt will send not only you but your internal organs forward. Your organs crash into your rib cage and kill you that way. Pretty much can't really happen with a belt. Heck, even someone sitting in the back seat without a belt on can kill you if you're not also wearing yours.

[@GaryJohnWalker1]

@@Matty112uk Luckily in the UK and Europe in general the seat belt laws mean airbags are far less explosive than those fitted to US cars where seat belt legislation has been lacking and thus the air bag was required to do more.

[@BsGaming732]

“I would prefer to be free when I’m driving” he’s gonna love the taste of windshield 😂

[@bn9983]

That's the appetizer, hood for main, and street for dessert

[@MoonLiteNite]

He may be stupid and doesn't understand what happens when you crash. But he is very wise and understanding personal freedom.

[@mxbx307]

He is very articulate and well spoken. Does not strike me as a stupid person. He also has a very large estate car and those weren't so cheap back then, so probably well paid.

[@oldblack15]

​@@TheWizard-pk4nhso do you define yourself as a non-stupid person then?

[@eat_ze_bugs]

His body his choice.

[@lordhoot1]

1983 is about when my uncle was killed in a car crash. He wasn't wearing a seat belt. You can be sure as kids we were never allowed to forget that.

[@blankpage555]

the kids would tell the grown ups

[@whitejack9032]

Okay and your point is?

[@TheRip72]

Travelling in a car without a seatbelt would feel as strange to me as going out without putting any shoes on.

[@ruturaj47]

Done both, not wearing shoes is more obvious.

[@dcarbs2979]

I still often travel in cars old enough not to have them fitted. Not that weird to me. My last car had 5 seats without belts in it (7 in total).

[@wassupjg]

In some states when on holiday in the US more recently we didn't have to wear seatbelts as rear passengers

[@axe6279]

People always come up with exceptions to 'prove' a point lol. 131 vs 3. It's weird guys.

[@holliswilliams8426]

When I was in Bolivia there were very few seatbelts in cars, I don't know if it's the same in other countries in South America. Took some getting used to for obvious reasons.

[@caeserromero3013]

I remember as a kid sliding from one ide of the vinyl back seat to the other on corners when travelling with my nan in her Vauxhall Chevette. She drove it like a rally driver.

[@luffyluck]

I remember my parents pulling down the back seats so my sister and I could sleep comfortably while doing an 800km night drive through the French highways (130km/h) 😂...

[@drSvensen]

My dad always talked about their car trips with five kids in the backseats without seatbelt and both my grandparents smoking non stop in the front seats.

[@gedalyahreback2133]

😂

[@Ronald98]

​@@drSvensenSounds about right for the 1980s 😂

[@ChaoticHoly]

Back of the pickup or station wagon as a little kid for me. After one gnarly incident on an icy road I didn't mind being forced to sit in a normal seat and putting on a seat belt. "Holy? I think you're _finally_ old enough to wear a seatbelt and sit up here with the rest of us." 🤣 To be fair we didn't have booster seats then so I was actually _just_ big enough to wear one without fear of belt decapitation in a wreck...

[@RZ1AWing]

Can we take a moment to appreciate the three-wheeler strolling past at 1:01-1:04

[@DerRamantis]

Mr. Bean must be close by.

[@SteBrazier2K9]

We used to be a country

[@zeiphon]

That's a Reliant Robin (Mk1 1973-1982)

[@fenrislegacy]

They used to be quite popular in the UK as you could drive ‘em on a motorcycle license and, of course, they were very affordable.

[@fenrislegacy]

@@zeiphon Reliant Robin Mk.1 Estate, to be more precise

[@paulrummery6905]

I remember a boy next to me in hospital in the 70s here in Australia, having his face repaired after a trip through the windscreen.. Still the nastiest facial injury I've seen.

[@Zodroo_Tint]

In the 70's even the windshields were tougher.

[@moman87]

The country that had compulsory seatbelt wearing in 1975

[@SethiozProject]

i bet you started wearing your seatbelt evne on back seat after you saw that. and i'm sure that the boy has never sat in car without a seatbelt ever again. as i replied to one other comment, as a kid i was in car accident. i was on back seat and didn't have seatbelt when a truck hit the rear end of the car, i flew across the seat and knocked my heat against the bolt that was holding the seatbelt ... it really hurt .. all i could think of "what if it went into my eye". ever since i wear seatbelt even on back seat. when i started driving, i found seatbelt very comfortable aswell. it prevents me from sliding in the seat and i don't have to grab the steering wheel to prevent me from sliding.

[@muslimcel4581]

A trip through the windshield😂😂

[@hello-sz7hp]

@@muslimcel4581 I looove not wear belt

[@hawsrulebegin7768]

Isn’t it bizarre looking back at moments like this? I can remember as a kid everyone talking about this crazy new seatbelt idea. Eventually we even came round to the idea that driving after necking a bottle of whiskey was probably not a good idea.

[@tubester4567]

UK was behind the times. Australia had seat belt laws in 1969.

[@VixenST]

😂

[@himselfe]

There's another older archive video of when tougher laws about driving while intoxicated came in, and that one is hilarious in a disturbing way. People blind drunk talking about how the law is stupid and saying they were perfectly safe to drive.

[@moonshinepz]

the whiskey improved both my driving skills and my driving, or so the whiskey told me 😬

[@scottdixon2505]

One of the first seat belt designs was actually designed to go around the neck like a noose. It's weird to see that people in the past just couldn't see what was wrong with that.

[@user-rp2xo1me4u]

The fella pointing out that wearing your seatbelt hasn't decreased the amount of accidents is just golden 😂🤣

[@user-rp2xo1me4u]

@@andreas4442 it's a hilarious point no doubt

[@xRyann_]

@@andreas4442 that's the point

[@n1ppe]

It's incredibly stupid

[@DarrenMc]

and today we have those same idiots saying the same thing about vaccines "tHeY dOnT rEdUcE cAsEs" Totally missing the point

[@Thoracius]

It's very much like the reasoning used by people who refused to get vaccinated because you could still get Covid.

[@NoosaHeads]

About 15 years ago, I drove a 1966 AC Cobra at high speed. It didn't have seatbelts. The doors felt like they were made of paper (aluminium, actually), and whilst driving the car, I felt very vulnerable. I've done a lot of motor sport, and not using a harness is unthinkable. Anyone who doesn't wear a belt is extremely brave, extremely unaware, or extremely thoughtless.

[@rickmarty1750]

Should it be illegal to run around near a table with a bunch of lit candles on it?

[@RebeccaTurner-ny1xx]

@@rickmarty1750 A bizarre analogy. Nothing like hurtling through a sheet of toughened glass.

[@gurriato]

​@@RebeccaTurner-ny1xx You seem to be extremely opposed to the idea of personal freedom. A bit on the fascist side one could say.

[@RebeccaTurner-ny1xx]

@@gurriato Should parents have freedom to not ensure their children are belted into their seats in their cars? Freedoms, like all rights, are contingent, not absolutes. We all have duties and responsibilities to others. Fascists want freedoms only for the powerful.

[@-_James_-]

​@@gurriato Your personal freedoms are hardly being imposed upon by a law designed to protect you. But let's follow your argument through to its logical conclusion. Let's assume you're involved in a serious accident while not wearing a seat belt. If you survived your "personal choice that doesn't affect anyone else" will have required an ambulance and medics to come and tend to you, possibly instead of someone else who also needed assistance at the same time. Depending on the location and seriousness of your injuries, maybe you will need to be airlifted to hospital. Again, potentially taking the crew and helicopter away when they might be needed elsewhere. Once in hospital, you will be occupying a bed that maybe someone else needed and wasting the time of doctors and nurses who could have been seeing to the needs of others. All because "mah freedoms". 🙄

[@halfbakedproductions7887]

Today is 31st January 2023 and this footage is exactly 40 years old. Amazing how attitudes to seatbelts have changed over the years and many of these cars don't even have headrests. Wonder where these people are (if still alive) and how their lives turned out. I find it fascinating to consider.

[@x-latetv-x6816]

Hello on 31st january 2024

[@user-mn4cc6bb7t]

The headrests were - at least originally - called head restraints, when I was buying cars back then. They were designed to stop you damaging your neck (or worse), if your car suddenly got hit a solid object or an oncoming heavier vehicle in the days before crumple zones were commonplace. The cars I had back then were designed so that there was not enough depth to these things for you to comfortably rest your head against them when the car was moving.

[@spaceagejava]

Especially fascinating to consider for the geezer refusing to wear one.

[@Beelzebubby91]

@@spaceagejava he’s probably dead af or in a wheelchair from going through a windshield by now

[@christiandauz3742]

I wonder how different the 1980s would be with 2024 cars and trucks?

[@jack7431]

My dad took his first driving test at the time of this broadcast. He got into his driving instructor’s car, and started up, adjusted his mirrors etc, ready for the test, but did not put his seatbelt on. The examiner asked “are you forgetting something John?” To my dad and my dad looked around and said “No. I don’t think so.” Needless to say he failed 😂

[@jackboyle1398]

your dad was always a bit thick jack

[@guth21776]

as the family story goes , but in the real world he never called your father john, good yarn all the same

[@nodidog]

@@guth21776 Why would you assume that? The examiner has a sheet of paper with John written on it, on a clipboard in their lap. It's normal for people to address each other with their names.

[@Volker_GR]

@@guth21776 Only undertakers no longer address their customers by name 🙂

[@kingprone7846]

@@guth21776 not sure if you are british but in the UK (and even more so australia and scandinavia) people general refer to each other by their first names. surnames are extremely formal and seldom used.

[@IrishMarty]

Love the cars and the variation in design and colour. Can’t believe this is almost 40 years ago.

[@naysmith5272]

These BBC Archive clips are great. 🙂

[@bernlin2000]

How about those 3-wheeled cars...those never really became a thing in the US, so they always make me smile, much like people driving those tiny Smart cars nowadays. Covered motorbikes essentially 🤣

[@jaymac7203]

I remember them well I was 7 years old 👶 😭😭 lol

[@jaymac7203]

@@bernlin2000 Robin Reliant? We called them 3 amp plugs 🔌because they were shaped like a British plug lool

[@blotski]

I used to be able to identify just about every make of car. Nowadays the designs are all so similar I really stuggle. And yes, the colours are a bit dull and predictable now too.

[@MelliaBoomBot]

Ah im 50+ and I’m just mesmerised by the cars and the newscaster, I remember him! My folks had an orange allegro at one point!! Gosh how nostalgic..❤

[@adamlee3772]

What a truly tragic car your parents had. I should know, my mother had a red Allegro. The back window popped out when dad changed the wheel on it.

[@PatrickBeilby]

Richard Whitmore. Still alive aged 90 according to Wikipedia 👍

[@CarloAldo]

The car with a square steering wheel and made of left over stuff from the parts bin at British Leyland. Remember not to leave it out in the rain it will disintegrate

[@1Sanantoniomatute]

the most incredible thing, those cars were rolling death traps in terms of safety features. A seatbelt was THE safety feature in them, they'd been around for at least 30 years in cars, but he laws waited until it was felt people would be up for it.

[@CarloAldo]

Odd that when I'd go to the scrappers to get parts, back in the day when they'd stack the cars, the seat belts were the things that lasted most. The rest of the car was usually a lump of rust.

[@johanmarnfeldt5262]

Except the one at 1:46-1:48 :)

[@Natta44]

Those adverts from the 90's which showed us what happened to a crash dummy in a car accident really changed people's minds I think. There was a few in the 2000's about running kids over if you drive over 30mph, stuck in my mind forever. It showed them in reverse slow motion on the floor with their legs unbreaking, then dragging to before the moment they walked across the road. Scariest advert ever.

[@jadeh5616]

I remember that ad!! Sticks in my mind too

[@Tcgaming67]

I remember that ad, I also remember one with a kid playing a Gamegear or similar and a car literally manifests itself out of the tarmac and kills him. Not sure what the message was supposed to be though. Be vigilant of shapeshifting roads?

[@scottwallace4146]

​@@jadeh5616 i saw it in a fully surround sound cinema... Thanks for the amazing audio of a kids bone cracking

[@celticacab9867]

Watch any Irish road safety advert from the 2000’s, grew up with daily nightmares due to them

[@TheTardisDreamer]

You should see Australian anti-speeding ads from that time! The PSA ads were absolutely beyond brutal. They also ran a full campaign very unsubtly equating speeders with tiny pen*ses. Only in Australia. 😂

[@pattas2005]

1983 - "Thanks for telling me, I better put it on.. hahahaha" 2015 - 2022 - "I'M RONNIE PICKERING!"

[@BossySwan]

Who?

[@user-hx3ko7vj4y]

exactly who?@@BossySwan

[@BossySwan]

@@user-hx3ko7vj4y let’s have a *_bareknuckle fight_* and _f i n d o u t_

[@Asif-kh-n9r]

​@@liamloxley1222who the fux that?

[@masimbw]

@@Asif-kh-n9r ME

[@emgee44]

I just loved looking at all the old cars and trucks from back then

[@goldeneddie]

Even as a youngster, I remember seeing this as an infringement on personal freedom. I asked my Dad if they would be stopping our boxing class because we could get hurt, or taking away his motorbike because it was more dangerous than a car. He said 'No' of course, so I just couldn't understand why people would do what they were told to do with their own health in their own car. In the last few years, when people even allowed the government to tell them not to leave the house or hug their own relatives, I realise that the seat-belt law was just the beginning.

[@J75Pootle]

Hold on, when I started reading this I thought you were going to say at the end that you realise now it was a good thing, but instead you go on to mention the Covid lockdowns - are you suggesting that you think that not only should there not have been any lockdowns but that the seatbelt law is still not a good idea?!

[@paulhease1007]

Who else over 50 wasn't listening to the words but was intently looking at all the cool old cars???!!!!! A Hillman Imp!!! A Morris Minor!!! Love that Capri!!!!! Nice VW camper van !!!!!! OOH an early Honda --he doesnt realize what a treasure he has...

[@mktrollop1093]

You don't have to be over 50 to appreciate cars like that.. It was like a catwalk of all my favourite cars!

[@gonnahavemesomefun]

I was doing the same but thinking just how bad they looked! Wonky and rusty!

[@Starmer_Crushed_The_Far_Right]

The little green Renault 5 tickled me is a strange place. Though the Leyland Princess made want to be sick in my mouth.

[@hugoagogo9435]

Lucky it was a dry day and they all started in the morning

[@seabiscuit726142]

A Citroen CX that even now looks modern! At least compared to those sad Fiestas.

[@antmo1966]

I started wearing seatbelts a few years before the law came into effect. But then having an older brother who lost his eye after going through the windshield as a front seat passenger, a few years before this definitely focused the mind in our family.

[@montyburnsgaming3609]

Love how this came up in my recommended 40 years and 2 days after they brought the law in. What I notice when watching archive videos like this from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s is that not only did people dress a lot differently, they also spoke a lot differently too. They talked in a much more formal, posh and polite manner. These days you won’t come across a single person in the UK who speaks like this. I was born in 1997 and can’t remember anyone talking like this.

[@ccf3294]

This reminds me about when the army changed from caps to metal helmets in World War One. The number of head injuries went up because they got injured instead of dying like they would have done with a cap on

[@halfbakedproductions7887]

It's the same with a 'rise' of COVID patients in hospital. People thumped their hands on the table demanding more lockdown daddy, when in reality these hospital patients, survived, recovered in hospital and went home. During the first wave people simply died and were removed from the statistics, as dead people aren't in hospital.

[@Grubbbee]

Holy crap. I hope to remember this when considering any stat. Thank you!

[@johannesbohm6458]

@@Grubbbee There is another quite famous example for something similar from WW2: To improve the survivability of their planes the allies mapped out where the returning planes got hit the most. But contrary to many peoples instinct, the parts they had to reinforce where not the parts with the most registered hits but the parts with no registered hits. Why? Cause those where the parts that made the plane crash when hit and therefore unable to be registered after returning.

[@Zodroo_Tint]

@@Grubbbee The statistic is an interesting thing. I was a driver in the city for years and saw many accident where a bad driver caused an accident in a way she didn't even noticed she caused an accident and the other cars behind her with better drivers desperately avoided from crashing her crashed their car. The people who caused the accident got away without noticing she caused an accident and the other drivers got into the statistic who made everything to save the situation to the better. It happened multiple times and yes I used the correct pronoun. Those where the times when I decided I'm gonna believe in this stereotype.

[@Zodroo_Tint]

@@johannesbohm6458 Remind me when I moved from my home and when my parents came to visit they always checked the fridge and went to the shop and bought the same thing what they saw in the frigde. Of course as a moneyless teenager the only thing left in the fridge was what I disliked the most. After a year the fridge was full of things what I didn't liked what fortified their belief I like that thing even if they were the one who bought all of them.

[@galihpa]

The moment when you realize that 1983 isn't 20 years ago but almost 40 years ago, I'm old

[@DudeWatIsThis]

The bands from the 80's looked like old mummies 20 years ago and still do now.

[@mrkipling2201]

Agreed. I would love to go back, just for one day!!

[@alexandertumarkin5343]

In 1983, I was 6 years old and lived in a huge country that thankfully no longer exists. By that time, I probably knew just several words in English, and one of them was, surprisingly, "butterfly". Yet even then, I knew I would be a translator. And yes, I am :) It's just a side job, though.

[@deltaechomusicnh555]

Yeah if it took you some working out to realise it was 40 years not 20, then yeah you are old. 😂

[@chriselwell8269]

It's amazing how much cars have changed.

[@davebeat]

I still remember my Dad having to buy and fit seatbelts for the backseats as they didn't come as standard.

[@HeIsNakedLunch]

I couldn’t me more pleased with BBC. Thank you ARCHIVES TEAM.

[@PsychoSavager289]

If anyone's interested, death rates per road crash have been generally dropping per year since the mid-60s. Compulsory seat belts in 1983 may not have been the catch-all solution, but it's a piece in the overall improvement in car safety. How cars are manufactured and public attitude to road safety has likely been a big part.

[@bigkuriboh3814]

The better technology and building of cars has also helped a lot :)

[@memorimusic420]

From 1975 to 2017 In the USA, seat belts are estimated to have saved 374,276 lives. More recent estimates are unavailable. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that using lap and shoulder seat belts reduces the risk of: Front seat passenger car occupant deaths by 45% Front seat passenger car occupant moderate to critical injuries by 50% Front seat light truck occupant deaths by 60% Front seat light truck occupant moderate to critical injuries by 65% :) so seatbelts are actually safe

[@adamlee3772]

Very good point. Although I’m in favour of compulsory seatbelts for all occupants in a motor vehicle, I understand from a BBC article some years later, that people felt more secure and safe wearing a seat belt and their driving became more aggressive and less risk averse when wearing one. It was quite fascinating to watch.

[@pian-0g445]

@@adamlee3772oh yeah. No expert in this and can’t remember my source so may be wrong, but due to car safety in the public eye being very good (airbags, more crumple zone, and on average, larger cars), people are driving more aggressively. Though I don’t know how much it affects accident rates.

[@neilkurzman4907]

It’s just one piece of the puzzle. Better safety equipment, better, construction, seatbelts, airbags, crumple zones.

[@DavidDavid-kl4ru]

I remember an ad campaign with Jimmy Saville saying "clunk click every trip" Not sure what happened to him

[@tennis5011]

He slotted his 'seatbelt' into every unwilling hole!

[@Dave-hu5hr]

@@tennis5011 🥁🎷

[@jane1975]

@David David: OMG, a) the guy is dead and b) he was a known child molester for years but the Yorkshire police and CPS were in his pocket so it didn't become public knowledge properly until after his death via a lot of his victims and Operation Yew Tree. There is actually a Netflix documentary about it, I don't whether its still available, behind a lot of the "good stuff" was a very sinister man.

[@DCI-Frank-Burnside]

Now you mention it I vaguely recall him. I think he is most remembered for his catchphrase "Now then, now then how's about that then".

[@221b-Maker-Street]

@@tennis5011😳

[@gloooopo]

Im here for the car nostalgia. Born in '75 I drove a least half a dozen of the different cars here except they were full of rust and filler. In the winter it was a subtle art pulling off in a mark 1 fiesta, feathering the clutch & excelarater whilst toggling the choke. No speed cameras or speed humps (unless you were on a caravan park). Happy days

[@redredred8408]

Nostalgic 2012 night light

[@paulshort1027]

I just watched one of the best classic car shows i have ever seen!

[@Rapscallion2009]

I love the guy pointing out that seatbelts don't prevent accidents - like he's successfully identified a massive flaw in their logic. He's right - It does not prevent accidents. It just helps to reduce the consequences of them. So you have just as many, they're just typically less severe on average.

[@jane1975]

@Rapscallion73: Yes, they prevent the driver and his or her passengers from going through the windscreen and possibly dying of head injuries.

[@mynameisben123]

Maybe you have more because drivers know the consequences aren’t as severe.

[@LukeMM95]

@@jane1975 So really it only benefits the NHS.

[@antiantiderivative]

@@LukeMM95 You mean the system that about to fall apart thanks to underfunding by the right wing gov’t? Seems like they would need all the help they can get

[@jmckendry84]

@@LukeMM95 I'd argue it primary benefits the people who don't suffer much more serious injury or even death 🤦

[@derin111]

I was a junior doctor seeing patients in A&E in Lancashire in 1988. Even then, 5 years after the law came into effect, we would see, on an almost weekly basis, people who had been involved in car accidents whose faces were cut to ribbons by hitting and smashing or even going right through windscreens because they weren't wearing seatbelts.

[@derin111]

@@ErwinPommel Thank you! 😂 Will correct! 👍🙂

[@holliswilliams8426]

When I lived in Bolivia some years ago there were almost no seatbelts in a lot of cars, even in the front seats. I always felt unhappy getting in the front of a trufi (like a small bus which follows a regular route but it's just a normal car) knowing that if we crashed my face was going to go straight through the windscreen but just had to get used to it.

[@cantbarsed1000]

@@ErwinPommel .... what are you correcting??

[@ErwinPommel]

@@cantbarsed1000 There was a typo, which has now been corrected.

[@jagenv]

I was born in 1987 and I remember no seat belts and 5 people at the back of the car if not more. Crazy times

[@Stevo-klo45453]

Peter is quite the gentleman.. people back then spoke with respect.

[@giovannitocco]

Yes indeed…

[@user-cr6qv1bn2u]

United your are black and or gay

[@superdaveozy7863]

I like how articulate and well spoken The British used to be before now.

[@kaspianepps7946]

You mean you like how the BBC and other media companies used to discriminate against people based on their accent.

[@markshrimpton3138]

I remember oh so well all those arguments against wearing seatbelts. I have a friend, like me now in her sixties, who refused point blank to wear one. She went through a windscreen shortly after this legislation became law. The drunk driver who caused the smash was, ironically, wearing one and survived unscathed. My friend, now blind in one eye, bears the hideous scars to her face to this day.

[@resnonverba137]

Thought evoking.

[@ZJS0113]

HAHAHA! that's hilarious

[@iamcortman1]

@@ZJS0113 You seem like a very sour, mean person

[@ZJS0113]

@@iamcortman1 🤣

[@Fireglo]

Why do I find the prospect of a drunk driver wearing a seatbelt hilarious? XD

[@Hdtjdjbszh]

This is a great example of how something new seems stupid and nanny-state at first and then years later it seems ridiculous not to do it, humans are stubborn

[@alloriginalpirates]

Came here to say this. Change/progression always feels like 'PC gone mad' but we evolve through change. We have to accept that we are doing social norm things now that people will look back on in 100 (or even 10) years and think we were insane/evil to be doing.

[@Doofgreed]

Ha! If only we could all be as clever as you, and see through all the lies! Perhaps you are just young or something, or don't get out much. The comment you disagreed with is correct. Most people tend to moan about change of any sort, then afterwards they wonder what all the fuss was about. 'Oh no, we'll loose the freedom to kill or main ourselves, and to become a burden on our healthcare and welfare system!' And as you are a conspiracy hobbyist there is a reason that the car industry fought and lobbied so hard to prevent the introduction of compulsory seatbelts, and it wasn't to protect your liberty buddy!

[@clavichord]

@@alloriginalpirates Hi, I'm from the future. Can you define a woman?

[@alloriginalpirates]

@@clavichord your great, great, great granddaughter is one... and she's pretty fine.

[@BenjaminGoose]

@@clavichord In the biological (sex) or societal (gender) sense?

[@tonimarx6405]

My Dad is 80yrs old now and still drives without a seat belt. He has refused to belt up ever since they inforced it. It's kinda bizarre.

[@Jorlaan42]

Early in the video the reporter mentions that before the law, only about 4/10ths of people used the seatbelt. Then later they made a big deal about how in this one area, nearly half of all people already used seatbelts...so 4/10? That's nearly half, the same thing as before that was seemingly bemoaned as bad.

[@MetalFan10101]

0:17 Fun Fact: My father purchased the blue ford escort on the right 2 years after this was filmed. The car ran until 1997.

[@markymark2819]

Great stuff - I often look in old videos for cars me or my family have owned - not seen any yet :-) it is amazing how much cars have changed since then. Mind you, imaging these days "excuse me sir, i see your not wearing your...." "F**K OFF!"

[@chrisjames9688]

I bought the same car in 1998. It was missing the seatbelt

[@Michelle_Schu-blacka]

All those classic cars! This video is a cargasm. Whether you're a Petrolhead or not, this has to bring back memories. You can almost smell the carburetors.

[@thosr861]

I know, it looks unreal. So sad that cars have no character and all look the same nowadays, perhaps it is just the case that most people don't care for looks but rather just want a car that can get them to where they need to go in the fastest, safest, cheapest, most comfortable way possible...

[@TheSultan1470]

Disguisting comments

[@JimRiga]

This was my exact take on this video too!

[@J75Pootle]

Unfortunately you're wrong, I'm not a petrolhead and this elicits no additional emotional response from me than modern day cars do

[@wraith7193]

My first thought was look at all those classics.

[@RayathF]

You can't appeal to people's reason. The general public rarely knows what's good for them.

[@brownbrownbrown2938]

Shouldn’t take away the ownership of our bodies. Also universal healthcare is bad. It should be privatized with the nurses deciding who they want to treat based on the actions

[@gxyb766]

Everyone speaks eloquently, and they’re so polite with each other.

[@willardr100]

Classic comment: on the continent, even though seatbelt use went up, accidents did not decrease. Brain of Britain right there. Well done, sir. Cider salutes you.

[@Zodroo_Tint]

Just show they were always people without logic skill even before the internet but since the internet they are able to come all over the world and give you a sample of their logic skill.

[@TheSwiftFalcon]

Seatbelts became compulsory in 1975 here in Norway, so I've never known a time without them. It is fascinating to see how attitudes change over time though, and this reminds me of the smoking legislation which was passed in 2004 and 2013, where indoor smoking in bars and restaurants, and then on public transportation was banned. There was a lot of fuss and complaining over it at the time, but a couple of decades later, almost nobody wants to go back to how it was. If you go a couple of decades in the other direction, to the 80s, people were fine with smoking indoors in their cars and houses even when they had children.

[@redtra236]

I still object to indoor smoking bans. It should be up to the place of business to allow it or not. It's not banned where I live so you'll still see restaurants that allow it or having smoking sections. Having separate smoking sections is a good compromise in my opinion.

[@redtra236]

@@johnnichol9412 Well the few here allowing it seem to be doing fairly well. I don't smoke and I agree it's unhealthy, but I don't think the health risk is that high from a miniscule amount of second hand smoke. I didn't have any issue with separate smoking sections in restaurants, but now even thats banned in a lot of states. When sitting in the non-smoking area of a restaurant that has a smoking section I very rarely smell any smoke even if a lot of people are inside smoking.

[@ericconnor8419]

The pub and restaurant industry has collapsed, people that moan about smoking don't drink much either. I run a pub when that happened, it is a block of flats now.

[@chatteyj]

@@redtra236 Smoking was banned indoors in public spaces in 2006 in the UK as a part time smoker I fully back the law, its ridiculous that people feel they have the right to smoke indoors and pollute the public air space, just go outside for some fresh air and have a cigarette, its a much better way of doing it.

[@redtra236]

@@chatteyj I mean I don't really have a problem with the separate smoking section(I'm not even a smoker) but I think making people go outside is a bit much, a lot of the times it might be cold or raining outside. Where I live in the US indoor smoking is still allowed but businesses have the right to ban it if they want. Most places either ban it or have separate areas for smoking which I feel is reasonable.

[@mbayatab4326]

I’ve noticed one thing, people were feeling free and confident. As for the safety on the roads, the main reasons for car accidents are overspeeding and lack of attention.

I was a year old as of the time of this clip. How much cooler was television back then.

[@progenderrole1329]

There’s a lightbulb shape in the back of your throat

[@Matty112uk]

Oh my I love these vintage clips. So nostalgic. Look at all those different cars!

[@1984ed101]

All bought with actual money no doubt, rather than leased . Not a single drab crossover or sports utility tank amongst them!

[@methanedirigible]

@@1984ed101 and all of them belching out the wonderful fumes of leaded petrol.

[@raftonpounder6696]

@@1984ed101 only a fool buys a car.

[@cheesywheels]

I got excited when I saw a Citroen GSA followed by a GS!

[@_mickmccarthy]

@@raftonpounder6696 Guessing this is assuming depreciation would be greater than leasing costs? Hasn't been the case for the 3 cars I've owned (and 2 have gone up in value since buying them)

[@themancuniancandidate2744]

I worked for Ford Canada about 10 years ago, and had a very interesting chat with one of the engineers who worked on crash mitigation systems. She said there are three impacts when you crash, not one. The first is your car hitting something or being hit. The second is your body impacting the interior of the car, whether it be the airbags, or-as in 1983-the dash/windscreen, and the third is your internal organs impacting your skeleton. And it's that third impact that kills you. Your brain won't stand much of an impact against the inside of your skull, and the trick car designers try to master is to extend the period of time between impacts one and three to be as long as possible. Airbags turn a sudden sharp impact into a gradual deceleration, reducing the load on your vital organs. It's absolute genius stuff, and it's why (until they went bust) I always drove a Saab, much to my employer's distaste.

[@tristanwegner]

Mostly correct, but the system does not want to delay the time between the impacts! They want to extend the time of impact 3 (organs). The security systems want to decelerated you as early as possible, but as little as possible at its peak. This means they want to decelerated you a little for a long time/distance. E.g. when wearing a seat belt, you ribs and your organs slow down earlier, compared to flying at the same speed towards the slowing steering wheel. Same with airbags, they slow you down earlier, then the steer wheel would.

[@whitegoodman7465]

Guess it happened for a reason 89 town car without airbags i was looking at it fell through because of the seller..dont want my head bouncing off the steering wheel in a crash.

[@raze83]

Why didn't you drive a Pinto? :D

[@f4tpie]

This being the same Ford that deliberately sold cars with failing, unsafe brakes because they calculated that paying out lawsuits was cheaper than fixing the design

[@coastaku1954]

@@raze83 Har har, Ford joke, blah blah, change the record

[@Solano1111]

as a history student, i think this is the best bbc channel

[@garryleeks4848]

Your right there 👍

[@handsoffmycactus2958]

It’s not a tv channel you weirdo

[@Solano1111]

@@handsoffmycactus2958 yes, it's a youtube channel

[@bagelking6364]

Some classic cars there. Love the way seat belts were compulsory but head rests weren't!!! So the amount of whiplash injuries was unbelievable!!

[@nathanspreitzer6738]

“I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law”

[@speedy01247]

yeah but honestly the law wasn't so much for the foolish as it is for the kids of those fools and everyone else.

[@hello-sz7hp]

@@speedy01247by your logic it should be illegal to be anywhere but your home during all thunderstorms

[@johntate5050]

Look at all those beautiful cars. They'd be worth a fortune today. I passed my test in 1982. I never imagined myself looking back 40 or so years later on something called the internet.

[@hmq9052]

The internet is just a small improvement on Ceefax

[@upturnedblousecollar5811]

Old style Fiesta's, Escorts, Hillman Imps, Cortinas and just look at that petrol cap at 0:08 (in slow motion) I remember installing one of those myself, lol 🤣

[@Steaks652]

They should make a gallery of these cars John.

[@johnmc3862]

A lot of different designs, many of them beautiful? I don’t think so.

[@Steaks652]

My white Chrysler Avenger 1300, with film tinted smoked Black windows, thought I had made it. Hah.

[@alastairward2774]

The guy who was refusing to comply had exactly the voice and attitude I expected.

[@barbarusbloodshed6347]

Yeah, I heard that guy and all I could think was "Look, it's the same type of idiot! They've always been here!" They really are a menace.

[@alastairward2774]

@@annacomnena217 he sounds like the sort who'd do the opposite on principle.

[@SDrtheone]

Yeah and he still got it wrong! "Number of seat belt users went, but number of accidents hasn't gone down". No the number of accidents wont go down, but I'm sure the number of serious injury & death has between then and now hahah

[@matthewvwuk]

@@barbarusbloodshed6347 Nothing new under the sun! You will always get people who in their eyes will not be told what to do by any authority of any kind be it the police or state & those people I think come to a sticky end later in life! We had them during the Covid pandemic, people not wearing masks in shops & not getting jabs etc!

[@aliasofanalias7448]

@@Sheriff_GrimLaw People like that only respond to one word; jump

[@fc4660]

I was 13 when it became law and it was a big topic of conversation. Some people said you’d have less chance of survival in an accident and so the debate went on. A lot of people were fined, they’d just forget about it, and then it started to have an effect.

[@barahng]

Old looking news footage from the UK always just makes me think of Brass Eye.

[@Master-dz3xt]

I love these bbc archive videos, gives a window into what life was really like in Britains past !

[@daliyunnan]

@@mistresscatty1 Yep. Full of idiots intent on being cut to ribbons in the name of common sense.

[@rbb5072]

Before our scum government ruined it with mass immigration

[@Scitch-et4vk]

@@mistresscatty1 lmao nonsense

[@bringolaselvapoto7418]

yea, better

[@rjjcms1]

Yes and no.

[@strawberryicecream796]

One driver said “I prefer to feel free when I’m driving” - I wonder if he would like to feel free if he was going through the windscreen if he was in a crash?!

[@CamcorderSteve]

Nobody is free when driving even at even just 5mph. You cannot just get out of the car and walk away.

[@Mermedon24]

Well he's gonna be free as a bird.

[@jakobbgh6310]

Crazy. I worked with a guy who Said that he could hold the wheel and therefore not go through the windshield… crazy that he believed he could that. And he was even an enigineer…

[@garryleeks4848]

Maybe he’s got wings 🙄

[@danyoutube7491]

​@@jakobbgh6310 Haha, that's hilarious, as well as disturbing.

[@jakel8627]

BBC: Hello British citizen, are you complying with the government? British citizen: Hello there, British Broadcasting Company. I am proudly complying with the government.

[@BackyardSpaceProgram]

"Good morning, I see you not wearing your seat belt, may I ask why?" "Yes, you see, I prefer too be free and smash my head through the windshield in case of an crash yes"

[@redredred8408]

I LOOOVE LOOOVE LOOOVE LOOOVE LOOOVE NEVER WEARING SEATBELT!!

[@timtam53191]

Can't help but notice how well spoken everyone is.

[@alexnicolaou3579]

yes they were raised during a time when teaching manners was a thing. they did not have the entitlement as kids and teens do today.

[@drifter402]

The deliberate dumbing down of the population by the elites

[@decrulez]

@@alexnicolaou3579 the kids who were raised by the people in that video? Well why did they do such a shitty job of raising children then?

[@silverhost9782]

@@decrulez Because the actual issue isn't a lack of manners but rather a simple downgrade in British culture over the last 40 years. Its now the cultural norm to speak and dress poorly, hence why people speak and dress poorly

[@decrulez]

@@silverhost9782 I’m sure that point has nothing to do with the fact people are poorer now than when this was filmed and the constantly cutting of the education budget. The last decade has been abysmal for British people.

[@alecwhitwell9856]

“I notice you’re wearing a seat belt?” “That is correct, yes” I mean you can’t fault it for accuracy can you.

[@Dare2Doubt]

According to one expert, "Although the number of people wearing seatbelts went up, there was no decrease in the amount of accidents ". Flawless logic 🤦

[@jdsd_]

0:49 I loved their chilled reaction to his question. Nowadays people would get extremely offended and cuss at the reporter xD

[@t3h51d3w1nd3r]

I love watching these old videos to see the old cars

[@thereisnospace]

even tho they were smaller the cars felt way bigger from the inside. guess crumple zones were for the weak minded :D

[@Jestersson]

It’s not just going through the screen, a belt also prevents you sliding forward towards the steering column. Chest injuries from the steering wheel will kill you very quickly even with an airbag.

[@nomorealone9158]

My aunt was killed by a seatbelt. It literally crashed her internals when the belts was strung by the hit. So no, seatbelts are stupid. I never drive with one.

[@LoganLuqman]

@@nomorealone9158 that's very sad and I'm sorry to hear that. But those are very rare cases compared to the number of times someone was saved because of a seatbelt instead. Please don't take offense to me saying this, but if there was so much force that a belt crushed internal organs, then you have to realize how much worse it would have been without a seat belt They're not stupid, people are stupid behind the wheel

[@boringname3657]

@@nomorealone9158 Anecdotal

[@afxtwinreverb]

@@nomorealone9158 she was killed because of the accident not the seatbelt.

[@redtra236]

@@afxtwinreverb I mean there are accidents where survivability chances would be increased without a seat belt, but the vast majority of the time your chances are better with one.

[@DavisonIncorp]

Really interesting to see how much this actually reduced injuries and death, fatal and serious injuries down 40-55%, and minor down 20-25% across different countries globally.

[@MrHowardMoon]

BBC were out here telling people the law while covering for Saville LOL!

[@n1msu]

I agree with the comments about watching all of the cars! I did find it slightly odd that the man at 2-20 refused to wear one because he believed a study which said there's no decrease in the risk of having an accident if a belt is worn. Obviously, to me at least, a belt doesn't lower your chance of being in an accident, but does help to stop your body from smashing through the windscreen and becoming a human projectile etc, and it might even save your life?

[@GameShadowCinema]

1980's version of not wearing a mask during a global pandemic

[@TheGiantKillers]

@@GameShadowCinema Or voting for Brexit. [puts on seatbelt]

[@stephenmurray2851]

@@GameShadowCinema Go away you muppet. A global pandemic that was barely worse than a normal flu? And the science is now clear that masks don't work. How can a paper mask stop microscopic particles when the gap between the fibres is enough for millions of particles to pass through

[@James_Doyle83]

@CranialDamage It's true though

[@MrOod67]

@@GameShadowCinema lol I didn't wear a mask and against all odds I somehow survived. There must be very few of us non mask wearers left now...

[@markcox1028]

I love looking at these old cars. Some of them are so stylish looking at the boring stuff we have these days.

[@PatrickHemmes]

The audio quallity is incredible for its time, ive seen videos from 2003 that were recorded "proffesionally" with worse quallity.

[@BrutalBocchi]

No coincidence that it's one year off from 1984.

[@redredred8408]

Bad year

[@duckpk10]

"Thanks for letting me know. I guess I better put it on now" that smile! What a legend!

[@gammaraider]

In my country seatbelts are mandatory, except if you drive a classic car from before 1972 or something, because they weren't fitted with them. I actually know a guy who only buys these ancient cars so he and his wife and two small children can drive without seatbelts, which he believes is "his right". No matter the risk he's putting his family in, he doesn't care. Suffice to say, he's not my friend.

[@stratfordbaby8572]

The tailgating is incredible. Driving 10 feet off the back of the next car. The whiplash from rear end crashes must've been massive.

[@woody78kw55]

Im loving seeing all the old cars.

[@blokeabouttown2490]

Are you indeed?

[@sarl2121]

As a Ford Capri admirer this video is heaven

[@alanculbert5146]

Great to see all those varieties of cars. I was 11 at the time, 50 now. I remember it like yesterday. Where have all those years gone!

[@wodens-hitman1552]

I'm 53. I remember fondly the days when you were allowed to laugh and joke without offending the pc brigade

[@cryptocsguy9282]

​@@wodens-hitman1552no you still offended people back then & they just couldn't do anything about it. My dad remembers all the racist crap 🙄 people used to 'joke" about at work back then.

[@horsenuts1831]

@@wodens-hitman1552 Why? What do you want to say? Spit it out...

[@dawnyWestScotland]

Crazy back in the old day’s when as kids we were just sat in the car with no seat belt! Loved the old footage of those cars! 💙☀️

[@robl326]

I bent my steering wheel in half and put my head through the windshield when I was 16. That was the last time I didn't wear a seatbelt.

[@StackerNoobUK]

I miss the way news was reported back in the day. All the presenters and reporters were so eloquent and polite. Even the people being interviewed are so much more polite.

[@ReedoAce]

More respect for each other back then.. more culture?

[@queeniegreengrass3513]

​@@ReedoAcewokeness did this.

[@ReedoAce]

@@queeniegreengrass3513 and the invasion of immigrants would also be a contributing factor

[@iamme625]

@@queeniegreengrass3513 what is 'wokeness'? is the wokeness in the room with you right now?

[@queeniegreengrass3513]

It underfunded education and maked people speak bad. @@iamme625

[@Weeflowerofscotland]

I was born in 75 . I always remember my dad never wearing his seatbelt, and me sitting in the back never wore one. Thank Goodness we never had a crash 😮!!!

[@SkyWidows]

Born in '83 here, I remember my younger brother and I sitting on the ground between the front and back seats. It was like being on a roller coaster for us. The thought of what it would have looked like had the car crashed makes me shudder.

[@bill3641]

Let alone playing in the back of the station wagon while flying down the road .

[@sarl2121]

I was born in 75 too. There were no seatbelts in the back to wear. The law on seatbelts in the rear seats didn't come in to 1991.

[@alfnoakes392]

I used to sit in the front seat (no seat belts) of my Dads Cooper S, sitting on his typewriter case so I could see out of the window. A different world.

[@100tallpaul]

Seat belts saved lives. Unfortunately, a few years later it was replaced by driving whilst using mobile phones. And this law still doesn't stop it happening daily.

[@redredred8408]

Not driving saves lives. By your logic we should ban driving as a whole

[@that_guy_from_the_internet]

"Even though the number of people wearing the seatbelt went up, the is not a decrease of the number of accidents" - my guy doesn't know how the searbelt works

[@EXITMUSIC2011]

Notice how chilled people were back then!

[@kristoffseisler2163]

2:08 maybe because seatbelts are not made to prevent accidents but to prevent you from flying through the windshield if you do get in one.

[@spaceagejava]

A bit of thicko, the right honourable gentleman

[@opencurtin]

Flying through the wind screen is the preferred option lol ,,,I love all those early 80s cars .

[@MNDorse]

0:15 that was quite the string of words. Very on point💯💪🏾

[@escapetheratracenow9883]

1983❤ I passed my test first time in a Nissan Sunny. I was 17. First thing I did was cut the L plates off my Mk1 Escort. Two months later it fell to bits and I replaced it with a Mk3 Cortina 1600L. Social mobility still existed back then. All my mates had cars at 17. We drove all over the country and loved it! The idea of “you will own nothing and you will be happy” would be utter poison.

[@swally4704]

My first car...my mums actually..was a silver Nissan sunny.

[@escapetheratracenow9883]

@@swally4704 My instructor's Sunny was a silver Y reg. It's a small world! I got a 2.0 XL Cortina next. It cost me 140 quid to insure. Happy days 😊

[@nickbrown6457]

@@escapetheratracenow9883 I had a 2.0XL in red in the late eighties, great car! I remember Saturday was the usual day people went looking at second hand cars. Then, once you'd bought one, you had to go to the High Street to the insurance brokers to get insurance on it. The queue at the brokers was always out the door and halfway down the road. I used to feel sorry for the poor woman behind the counter!

[@halfbakedproductions7887]

It's bonkers to think that even in my lifetime (born 1987) you could live alone in London and have a modest car, all while working as some crummy clerical assistant or picking up shifts in a pub. A taxi driver or probationary police officer could buy a three bed house in Walthamstow on a single income and pay off the mortgage in 10 years. These days that's considered the rantings of a gibbering lunatic. Just totally impossible.

[@jasonayres]

*Perhaps* the most trivial thing you'll read today, but I went to a Georgie Fame concert about 30 years ago, and he said that he was grateful to the company that produced the Sunny. The advertisement, featuring his 1966 hit song, "revived his career"!

[@thetwopointslow]

This is pretty interesting. Never when driving with a seatbelt on has my body not felt “free”. I guess it must’ve been a big adjustment when you’d never used one.

[@dar4061]

You were never a child getting used to having a strap around you? You were automatically perfect with it from the start?

[@boiled_egg_]

@@dar4061 Most people aren't going to remember that. Not sure why you're so offended over the topic?

[@grtbgf]

I've hacked my seatbelt alarm off in my car. No way im putting it on when going for a 2 min ride to the grocery store. And it feeels really nice.

[@gaswe9236]

@@grtbgf walk

[@thetwopointslow]

@Bessie Hillum lol

[@seankayll9017]

A seat belt broke my sternum clean in two. It did that at the expense of saving my life though, so I will forgive it that relatively minor inconvenience.

[@splodge5714]

1983 when most of the cars on the road were British and most of the people driving them were also British.🇬🇧

[@ScarletForYa]

Thankfully British cars are almost a thing of the past and most people's cars now work properly.

[@AMikeOnLine]

Great video. I passed my driving test in 1984. My instructor was a very good one, i only had 12 lessons. This was with BSM and in a 3 door Mini Metro. I'll never forget my last driving lesson. It was March and thick with snow so i phoned BSM up and spoke to my instructor and said should we cancel todays lesson and to my amazement he said very sternly, "If I can get here, so can you". The lesson will go ahead. ! So i managed to get there and we went out in about 3 inches of snow, it was hair raising but fun and actually gave me some brilliant experience. In 40 years of driving I've never lost control of a vehicle in the snow or ice, my driving instructor would be proud. In around 1974 or 5 i was on the bus with my mum going into town, sat upstairs at the front of the bus we saw a woman crash her beautiful white ford cortina into a lamp post and she went through the windscreen and landed on the bonnet. Blood everywhere.. It was horrifying to witness, i'll never forget it., it was like watching a movie. As someone else has said, we never imagined ourselves watching this video 40 yesrs later.. on something called the 'Internet'.!

[@jhareng]

Non of this namby pampby crap, Yellow and Red weather warnings last couple of years, who dreans this shite up. Sheet ice on ring roads couldnt make it up to digging out your road to get back home from work 17 mile away were the norm. Not forgetting when no one was around you could have a play in the snow for such a time necessary, now they just panic and hit the brakes = bang

[@cactusoft]

I remember at the time many people complained about the nanny state, disputed the effectiveness of seatbelts (despite scientific consensus) and even claimed it was safer NOT wearing a seatbelt. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[@davidlawes4954]

Same attirude being taken today about helmet and hi viz for cyclists. According to lunatic cycling groups, a legal requirement to wear these life saving items would reduce cycling rates and lead to more deaths from obesity. It would also result in drivers taking less care. Absolute joke on both counts. As a pedestrian I wear a hi viz jacket when out in the dark.

[@yourmum69_420]

@@davidlawes4954 good for you, do what you want. why force everyone else to be like you though? you narcissistic prick

[@davidlawes4954]

@@yourmum69_420 I love it when it gets personal, it just means that the person resorting to insults has run out of reasoned arguments. Keep 'em coming, I could do with a laugh.

[@francisdec1615]

I will never wear a bicycle helmet in my life. Yes, it IS a nanny state raping your personal autonomy.

[@iamme625]

@@francisdec1615 What a pathetic and selfish attitude to have. Have you no empathy for the paramedic who'll have to scrape your remains off the bonnet of a car when you get hit by one? Have you no care for your family who will have to deal with an easily preventable brain injury or lethality because you think wearing a helmet is stupid? I worry for those around you if that's the attitude you have towards something so clearly beneficial.

[@markgreet3543]

I remember the original broadcast of this age 10, im now 50, it was a good idea.

[@gringotom242]

This is so much like an episode of Brass Eye 😂😂

[@quantumshark_5350]

Other way around. This is the format Brass Eye was playing on.

[@adamlee3772]

“And if you don’t wear a seat belt, you’re 248% more likely to be left quadrospazzed on a life glug after a collision with a tree, or a small bean regarder.”

[@s1lentw1nter]

This gave me "Bomb Dogs" vibes from The Day Today. I think it's because of Peter Gould's reporting style.

[@noelchignell1048]

I'm surprised how slow the UK was in making wearing seatbelts compulsory. Here in New Zealand it became compulsory in 1975 and seatbelts had to be fitted (in the front seats only from 1965) My parents had seatbelts fitted to their cars in the 1960s including the rear seats and we grew up with our parents insisting we always had to "belt up"

[@mxbx307]

That's the dumb thing about the UK's rules. We had to have seatbelt mounts fitted as standard since 1965 and you could buy a kit to fit the belts yourself. Belts fitted by law in the front as of 1967. Over a decade of "clunk click" and most new drivers had belting up instlled into them during lessons even as far back as the late 1960s. Yet actually wearing the belts wasn't a legal requirement until 1983 as you see here. You didn't need rear belts fitted until 1987 and it took until 1991 before _all_ seats in the car needed belts, including the rear middle. I don't know why it took so long. Even now you can legally reverse without wearing your seatbelt.

[@nevillemason6791]

Driving has got a lot safer despite a large increase in traffic since 1983. In 1980 road deaths were 5,953. In 2021 this had reduced by 73% to 1,608 of which 682 were in cars. Of these 682 deaths 205 (30%) were still not wearing seat belts.

[@kerriemccoy1647]

In 1970 my state of Victoria became the first place in the world to make people by law to wear seatbelts

[@BackyardOfHorrors]

“I prefer to be free when I’m driving” brother you’re about to be real free 😂