It's odd how, nowadays it feels really odd to be in a car without wearing a seat belt.

Not long ago I drove an old LandRover on a farm. It never goes on the road, and for some reason it doesn't have seat belts. It felt really weird, I seemed to be sliding around all over the seat.

The first I remember of belts was in a new Vauxhall 101 in '63 when I was 7. They were the old non-inertia reel, made by Irvin I recall. I used to put it on when I went to my dads office in Mitcham from Bromley on a Saturday morning. My dad always said that they were really just for going on long trips, but I liked to feel like I was a fighter ace with it on!

Right up until the Jimmy Savile ads in the '70s were shown, most people seemed to consider that they were only for going on long journeys, for 'just in case'.

On a point of interest, I wonder how many vehicles have failed an MOT for faulty seatbelts, since seatbelts became the normal requirement?.

I don't know why it is, when subjects like this appear,I always think of Marples opening the first motorway here in the UK, and how things have moved on since those very same early day!.

Quickbeam

I miss the large caravan sites that sprang up at the side of new motorways when they were first being built. The pub sessions on a half day off on a Saturday afternoon. Things have certainly moved on since those days ;o)