RoSPA Press Office : Press Release

January 30, 2003
THANK RoSPA YOU’RE ALIVE

Thousands of motorists who have survived crashes because of the seatbelt law introduced 20 years ago this week can thank the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents they are alive.

It was RoSPA that was behind the original law, but failure to wear a seatbelt today is still costing around 160 lives a year in the UK and thousands of injuries – many because people won’t belt-up in the back.

On the eve of the legislation anniversary (January 31), RoSPA urged those who have still not learned the safety lesson to look back at the proof that seatbelts work – and that not wearing one can cost you your life or kill those around you.

To support its fight for a law in the 1980s, RoSPA organised a Seatbelt Survivors Club. Its members included George Robertson, current Secretary General of NATO, former Labour leader and European Commission vice-president Neil Kinnock, MP Austin Mitchell, TV personality Michael Parkinson, former world motor racing champion Jackie Stewart and singer Adam Faith. Their stories of how seatbelts had saved their lives helped the campaign gain momentum.

It was the Society’s then President, Lord Nugent of Guildford, who won the day for compulsory wearing in the front seat of cars by introducing an amendment to the Transport Bill in the House of Lords. A law making it compulsory to wear seatbelts in the back of cars was introduced in 1991.

Kevin Clinton, RoSPA’s Head of Road Safety, said: “Thanks to Lord Nugent and RoSPA thousands of people are alive today who otherwise might have been killed in road accidents.

“But even 20 years on we see people flouting a law which was designed with their interests in mind. About 90 per cent of drivers wear their belts in the front – still far too low – while in the rear the rate is still below 60 per cent.

“Television commercials have illustrated graphically how those who are not belted up in the back can kill people in the front, and this has led to some improvement. Let’s hope that people get the message that even if they are not worried about their own safety in a car, they should at least wear their belts to protect others.”

RoSPA’s latest initiative to protect people in cars is the website www.childcarseats.org.uk which provides all the answers about child car seats.