It's been 50 years of compulsory seatbelts in Australia

Nowadays it’s the first thing we do when we jump in the car, and we can all remember the ads over the last few decades reminding us to buckle up our seatbelts.

Over the last couple of years (depending on what State you hail from) the 50th anniversary of Australia becoming the FIRST, yes that’s right – the FIRST country in the world to legislate compulsory seatbelt wearing in front and back seats, has been acknowledged.

While 2022 is the 50th anniversary of the laws nationwide, in Victoria the law came into effect as early as December 1970 making the state the first place in the world to make seatbelts mandatory. NSW followed and legislated it by November 1971, followed by all other Australian states by January 1, 1972.

In 1959, Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin developed the modern three-point seat belt. Although the design was patented by Volvo, they decided to leave it open, making it available to all vehicle manufacturers to use for free.

This rather unconventional decision by Volvo proved to be very beneficial to the world.

As the country’s post-World War economy boomed, so did private car ownership. Sadly, this meant the road toll also increased as more families opted for road trips and time behind the wheel.

In 1970, Australia reached its greatest road toll to date, with 3,798 fatalities. Before this, during the 1960s, it is estimated that only 5% of cars in the country were fitted with seatbelts.

State road tolls differed, but there was one thing in common - with more cars on the road, the higher the fatality rate.

Road fatalities had peaked in NSW at around 1300 in 1970, and it was increasing rapidly. Following the introduction of the mandatory seatbelt laws, those numbers began to decrease. In 2020, 284 lives were lost on NSW roads, which is a 78% reduction compared to 1970's figures.

The introduction of these laws across the country was revolutionary, but it required mass education campaigns, as many older cars at the time didn't have seat belts, and it still took time to make wearing a seatbelt a default setting.

One of the most well-known ad campaigns from the time featured two eggs in two egg mobiles, one with a seatbelt, and one without, and they take their turns driving into a wall.

No guesses as to which car got scrambled…

The ad campaigns and road safety policy drew instant results, with a 25% decrease in fatalities in NSW within the first year.

Meanwhile south of the border, the Bill was introduced into the Victorian Parliament in 1970 and passed right before Christmas that year, meaning technically Victoria was the first jurisdiction in the world to enforce mandatory seatbelt legislation.

As of today, the numbers show that if you buckle up front and back, you reduce the risk of fatality and serious injury by around 50%!

There have been many confronting and iconic ad campaigns for seatbelt safety, including the graphic 1992 ad 'Bend your knee, Katie', which showed a young woman named Katie being flung from a car in a horrific accident.

This ad was recently… ahh revived… to combat a recent rise in seatbelt-related deaths, particularly in Victoria.

Ad campaigns have also targeted country drivers, with the reminder to always wear a seatbelt, even if you’re only travelling a short distance or on a familiar road.

Since 1970, seatbelt technology has advanced too with pretensioners, which locks the seatbelt in place in the event of a crash, as well as automatic seatbelt reminders. So, here’s to 50 years, and 50 more! Don’t forget to click-clack, front and back!

Related: The history of the crash test dummy

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