Remember days before seatbelts?

chic said:
The government required head restraints? It was easier to back out of anywhere safely without them as I remember. I don't remember when we got those in our cars.
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Head restraints are today required safety equipment in the U.S. When did you last buy a car without them?
 

I can remember the first car that my parents had seat belts in, which must have been in the late 50’s or early 60’s. They weren’t standard equipment at the time. The funny thing was that the seat belts were only in the front seats of the vehicle. Always riding in the rear seat, I asked my parents why I didn’t have seat belts there. They said I didn’t need them, and that the back of their front seats would stop me in the event of an accident…

Even as a child, I didn’t buy into this logic… 🤔
 
Fyrefox said:
I can remember the first car that my parents had seat belts in, which must have been in the late 50’s or early 60’s. They weren’t standard equipment at the time. The funny thing was that the seat belts were only in the front seats of the vehicle. Always riding in the rear seat, I asked my parents why I didn’t have seat belts there. They said I didn’t need them, and that the back of their front seats would stop me in the event of an accident…

Even as a child, I didn’t buy into this logic… 🤔
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I didn't buy it either. It took a very long time for carmakers to finally ramp up and build safe cars. There was no profit in safety.
 

I remember, nobody worried much back then, before it became law. But I do think seatbelts make huge sense.
Some people just wouldn't wear them willingly though. I had one friend who always pretended to clunk click and would just hold it. If I was giving her a lift I told her we would go nowhere until she did it properly.
 
Canada passed national regulations in 1976, that required all vehicles made in Canada, or imported into Canada, have seat belts for every passenger. IN 1990, Canada passed regulations requiring all vehicles made in Canada, or imported into Canada to have Day Time Running Lights that come on automatically, when the engine is started. Volvo was the first vehicle maker in the world to have seatbelts in all of their vehicles in 1959. The original 3 point seat belt harness was invented by a Volvo company engineer in 1949. So 47 years ago, Canada made seatbelts mandatory equipment in all vehicles. And now, 47 years later, some fools still won't use them. JimB.
 
horseless carriage said:
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Seat belts are important, of course they are, yet it's wonderfully subversive to legally drive around without them. The irony of these photos is that the lady spent her working life as a paramedic in the ambulance service.

In the UK if a car is over 40 years old and wasn't fitted with seat belts when new, there's no legal obligation to fit them.
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Same here. Vehicles manufactured 1964 and older are not required. :)
 
Sure do, and like most every other kid back in the day, we rode snuggled next to the rear window in the back of uncle's old 4-door sedan which had a perfect sleeping bench atop the bench seat, and a dear aunt of mine drove a VW Beetle, and us kids would swarm to the very back lunchbox seat which sat over the engine compartment.

And then there was riding in the open box of pickup trucks. That one unnerves me to this day. I often wonder how many lives were lost doing such.

1960-corvair-dash-baby-cradle.jpg


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Cars may not have had seatbelts then, but they had wings or fins! My parents had a Ford with a rear design much like this. I kinda liked the look, as it made me feel like I was traveling in a rocket ship…

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