Safety Belts
Sir,—The Transport Department’s reply to Mr Illingworth, that new cars come off assembly lines without safety belts because New Zealanders are “choosey” about their belts, is another ambiguity of our traffic laws. In Britain, where this Easter’s road toll was 25 per cent down, belts are not traffic law, but at long last, after June, they will be, and the law is that a new car has a belt fitted on the assembly line. It will be interesting to see what effect belts have on the British road toll. A drinking driver will certainly have more time to decontaminate his air passages before getting out to face the breathalyser. The strange thing about New Zealand belts is that you can often see officers of the Transport Department, police, and other Government departments not using the Government-regulation belt or any other. Belted civilian drivers are rare birds. Like the restrictive Sam Browne, will they one dav be obsolete?—Yours, etc., A. B. CEDARIAN. April 18, 1968.
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Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31658, 19 April 1968, Page 12
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166Safety Belts Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31658, 19 April 1968, Page 12
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