The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986

Seat beltsE+W+S

47.—(1) This regulation applies to every vehicle to which regulation 46 applies.

(2) Save as provided in paragraph (4) a vehicle to which—

(a)this regulation applies which was first used before 1st April 1981 shall be provided with—

(i) a body-restraining F1... belt, designed for use by an adult, for the driver's seat; and

(ii) a body-restraining F1... belt for the specified passenger's seat (if any);

(b)this regulation applies which is first used on or after 1st April 1981 shall be provided with three-point F2... belts for the driver's seat and for the specified passenger's seat (if any);

(c)regulation 46(4)(a)(ii) [F3or (iii)] applies which is first used on or after 1st April 1987 shall be fitted with seat belts additional to those required by sub-paragraph (b) as follows—

(i) for any forward-facing front seat alongside the driver's seat, not being a specified passenger's seat, a seat belt which is a three-point belt, or a lap belt installed in accordance with paragraph 3.1.2.1 of Annex 1 to Community Directive 77/541 or a disabled person's belt;

(ii) in the case of a passenger or dual-purpose vehicle having not more than two forward-facing seats behind the driver's seat with either—

(A) an inertia reel belt for at least one of those seats, or

(B) a three-point belt, a lap belt, a disabled person's belt or a child restraint for each of those seats;

(iii) in the case of a passenger or dual-purpose vehicle having more than two forward-facing seats behind the driver's seat, with either—

(A) an inertia reel belt for one of those seats being an outboard seat and a three-point belt, a lap belt, a disabled person's belt or a child restraint for at least one other of those seats;

(B) a three-point belt for one of those seats and either a child restraint or a disabled person's belt for at least one other of those seats; or

(C) a three-point belt, a lap belt, a disabled person's belt or a child restraint for each of those seats.

[F4(d)regulation 46(4)(a)(i)(B) applies shall be fitted with seat belts as follows—

(i)for the driver’s seat and the specified passenger’s seat (if any) a three-point belt; and

(ii)for any forward-facing front seat which is not a specified passenger’s seat, a three-point belt or a lap belt installed in accordance with the provisions of sub-paragraph (c)(i);

(e)regulation 46(4A)(b) applies shall be equipped with seat belts which shall be three-point belts, lap belts or disabled person’s belts.]

[F5Where a lap belt is fitted to a forward-facing front seat of a minibus, a motor ambulance or a motor caravan, or to an exposed forward-facing seat [F6(other than the driver’s seat or any crew seat) of a coach either—

(i)there shall be provided padding to a depth of not less than 50mm, on that part of the surface or edge of any bar, or the top or edge of any screen or partition, which would be likely to be struck by the head of a passenger wearing the lap belt in the event of an accident; or

(ii)the technical and installation requirements of Annex 4 to ECE Regulation 21 shall be met, in respect of any such bar, screen or partition,

but nothing in sub-paragraph (i) above shall require padding to be provided on any surface more than 1m from the centre of the line of intersection of the seat cushion and the back rest or more than 150mm on either side of the longitudinal vertical plane which passes through the centre of that line, nor shall it require padding to be provided on any instrument panel of a minibus.]

(3) Every seat belt for an adult, other than a disabled person's belt, provided for a vehicle in accordance with [F7paragraph (2)(b), (c), (d) or (e)] shall, except as provided in paragraph (6), comply with the installation requirements specified in paragraph 3.2.2 to 3.3.4 of Annex I to Community Directive 77/541 [F8or 82/319 or 90/628] [F9or 96/36] whether or not [F10those Directives apply] to the vehicle.

(4) The requirements specified in paragraph (2) do not apply—

(a)to a vehicle while it is being used under a trade licence within the meaning of section 16 of the 1971 Act;

(b)to a vehicle, not being a vehicle to which the Type Approval (Great Britain) Regulations apply, while it is being driven from premises of the manufacturer by whom it was made, or of a distributor of vehicles or dealer in vehicles—

(i) to premises of a distributor of or dealer in vehicles or of the purchaser of the vehicle, or

(ii) to premises of a person obtaining possession of the vehicle under a hiring agreement or hire-purchase agreement;

(c)in relation to any seat for which there is provided—

(i) a seat belt which bears a mark including the specification number of the British Standard for Passive Belt Systems, namely BS AU 183:1983 and including the registered certification trade mark of the British Standards Institution; F11...

(ii) a seat belt designed for use by an adult which is a harness belt comprising a lap belt and shoulder straps which bears a British Standard mark or a mark including the specification number for the British Standard for Seat Belt Assemblies for Motor Vehicles, namely BS 3254:1960 [F12or [F13BS 3254: Part 1: 1988]] and including the registered certification trade mark of the British Standards Institution, or [F14the marking designated as an approval mark by regulation 4 of the Approval Marks Regulations and shown at item 16 ot 16A in Schedule 2 to those Regulations];

[F15(iii)a seat belt which satisfies the requirements of a standard corresponding to the British Standard referred to in sub-paragraph (i); or

(iv)a seat belt designed for use by an adult which is a harness belt comprising a lap belt and shoulder straps and which satisfies the requirements of a standard corresponding to any of the British Standards referred to in sub-paragraph (ii).]

(d)in relation to the driver's seat or the specified passenger's seat (if any) of a vehicle which has been specially designed and constructed, or specially adapted, for the use of a person suffering from some physical defect or disability, in a case where a disabled person's belt for an adult person is provided for use for that seat.

[F16(e)to a vehicle to which regulation 46(4A)(a) applies.]

(5) Every seat belt provided in pursuance of paragraph (2) shall be properly secured to the anchorage points provided for it in accordance with regulation 46; or, in the case of a child restraint, to anchorages specially provided for it or, in the case of a disabled person's belt, secured to the vehicle or to the seat which is being occupied by the person wearing the belt.

(6) Paragraph (3), in so far as it relates to the second paragraph of paragraph 3.3.2 of the Annex there mentioned (which concerns the locking or releasing of a seat belt by a single movement) does not apply in respect of a seat belt fitted for—

(a)a seat which is treated as a specified passenger's seat by virtue of the provisions of sub-paragraph (ii) in the definition of “specified passenger's seat” in paragraph (8); or

(b)any forward-facing seat for a passenger alongside the driver's seat of a goods vehicle which has an unladen weight of more than 915 kg and has more than one such seat, any such seats for passengers being joined together in a single structure.

[F17(c)any seat (other than the driver’s seat) fitted to a coach.]

(7) Every seat belt, other than a disabled person's belt or a seat belt of a kind mentioned in paragraph [F18(4)(c)] above, provided for any person in a vehicle to which this regulation applies shall be legibly and permanently marked—

(a)F19... with a British Standard mark or a designated approval mark; F20...

F20(b). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Provided this paragraph shall not operate so as to invalidate the exception permitted in paragraph (6).

[F21(7A) Paragraph (7) does not apply to—

(a)a seat belt for an adult F22... that satisfies the requirements of a standard corresponding to either of the British Standards referred to in sub-paragraph (i)(a) of the definition of “British Standard mark” in paragraph (8); or

(b)a child restraint that satisfies the requirements of a standard corresponding to any of the British Standards referred to in sub-paragraph (i)(b) of that definition.

(7B) For the purposes of this regulation a reference to a standard corresponding to a specified British Standard is a reference to—

(a)a standard or code of practice of a national standards body or equivalent body of any EEA State;

(b)any international standard recognised for use as a standard by any EEA State; or

(c)a technical specification recognised for use as a standard by a public authority of any EEA State,

where the standard, code of practice, international standard or technical specification provides in relation to seat belts, a level of safety equivalent to that provided by the British Standard and contains a requirement as respects the marking of seat belts equivalent to that provided by the British Standard.

(7C) For the purposes of paragraph (7B)—

(a)“EEA State” means a State which is a contracting Party to the EEA Agreement but, until the EEA Agreement comes into force in relation to Liechtenstein, does not include the state of Liechtenstein; and

(b)“EEA Agreement” means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992 as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17th March 1993.]

(8) In this regulation—

“body-restraining F23... belt” means a seat belt designed to provide restraint for both the upper and lower parts of the trunk of the wearer in the event of an accident to the vehicle;

“British Standard mark” means a mark consisting of—

“child restraint” means a seat belt for the use of a young person which is designed either to be fitted directly to a suitable anchorage or to be used in conjunction with a seat belt for an adult and held in place by the restraining action of that belt: Provided that for the purposes of paragraph (2) (c)(ii)(B) and (2)(c)(iii) it means only such seat belts fitted directly to a suitable anchorage and excludes belts marked with the specification numbers BS AU 185 and BS AU 186 or 186a.

[F29“crew seat” has the same meaning as in regulation 3(1) of the Public Service Vehicles (Conditions of Fitness, Equipment, Use and Certification) Regulations 1981;]

“designated approval mark” means

“disabled person's belt” means a seat belt which has been specially designed or adapted for use by an adult or young person suffering from some physical defect or disability and which is intended for use solely by such a person;

[F29“exposed forward-facing seat” means—

[F29“forward-facing front seat” means—

“forward-facing seat” means a seat which is attached to a vehicle so that it faces towards the front of the vehicle in such a manner that a line passing through the centre of both the front and the back of the seat is at an angle of 30° or less to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle;

[F29“forward-facing high-backed seat” means a forward-facing seat which is also a high-backed seat;]

[F29“high-backed seat” means a seat the highest part of which is at least 1 metre above the deck of the vehicle.]

“inertia reel belt” means a three-point belt of either of the types required for a front outboard seating position by paragraph 3.1.1. of Annex 1 to Community Directive 77/541;

“lap belt” means a seat belt which passes across the front of the wearer's pelvic region [F34and which is designed for use by an adult];

“seat” includes any part designed for the accommodation of one adult of a continuous seat designed for the accommodation of more than one adult;

“seat belt” means a belt intended to be worn by a person in a vehicle and designed to prevent or lessen injury to its wearer in the event of an accident to the vehicle and includes, in the case of a child restraint, any special chair to which the belt is attached;

“specified passenger's seat” means—

and

“three-point belt” means a seat belt which—