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· 30 Jan 2022

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When were seat belts invented

Using seat belts is one of the best ways to keep yourself and the person accompanying you on drive safe while driving. Seat belts can be found in each vehicle, from a little hatchback to an aeroplane. To further understand how seatbelts have affected the driving experience, let's have a close look at its origin and law enforcement.

Origin & History
George Cayley, an English engineer in the late 1800s, designed the seat belt in order to safeguard pilots in their gliders from falling out of the aircraft. However, on February 10, 1885, an American inventor named Edward J. Claghorn invented the first patentable seat belt for cabs in New York City. As time went on, the seat belt gradually became a standard feature in automobiles to keep passengers and drivers secure in their seats. Otherwise, earlier lesser emphasis was placed on maintaining a high standard of personal safety while operating a motor vehicle
As early as the 1930s, a number of American physicians began using s belts in their research, but it wasn't until then that the auto industry was forced to comply with their recommendations and mandate the use of them in all vehicles. A Motor Vehicle Seat Belt Committee was founded by the Society of Automotive Engineers in 1954 when the SCCA imposed lap belts for racing drivers.
Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin introduced the three-point seatbelt in 1958, making modern seatbelts significantly safer. Seat belts in automobiles prior to this point were two-point lap belts, which were strapped across the body with the buckle placed over the abdomen. The seat belts we know today, thanks to a three-point system developed by Bohlin for Volvo in 1958 when the company recruited him. The three-point design was intended to assist bind both the upper and lower body parts. As a result, other automobile manufacturers began copying this basic and practical design. Volvo calculated that in the four decades since the seat belt was introduced, it had saved more than one million lives when Bohlin passed away in 2002.
Sales of seat belts increased in the United States once the public realised the safety benefits of seat belts. Seat belts were available as optional equipment and could even be purchased at gas stations in the early days of automobiles.

Law enforcement
Previously wearing seat belts while driving and travelling in automobiles was neither necessary nor the part of law. It was 1966, when government made it mandatory to wear seat belt in American vehicles. Because of this, most first-world countries required seat belts in their vehicles by 1975. In 1970, Australia implemented its first seat belt law, which mandated that all passengers wear their seat belts at all times when driving. The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 marked the beginning of seat belt laws in the United States.
The National Ad Council has been running "Buckle Up" advertising for more than two decades. By 1995, states had begun enacting legislation. Today wearing seat belt has become mandatory in every part of the world.  

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