It was half a century ago this week that Canberra introduced "Belt Up Day", bringing the compulsory use of what was to become one of the most significant life-saving devices in automotive history.
Under the mandate issued by Ralph Hunt, the then-Minister of the Interior - 18 long years before self-government in the ACT - all drivers in cars fitted with seatbelts were required to use them or face a $20 penalty.
The mandate came into effect after it was found that of the 20 people killed on ACT roads in 1970, 18 were not wearing a seatbelt.
"Drivers will have to wear seatbelts, securely fastened and appropriately adjusted, except when the vehicle is driven backwards or when stationary immediately before or after being reversed," the public was told by the department.
It was also deemed an offence for a passenger not to wear a seat belt if the vehicle's engine was running or being driven in a public street.
Under the legislation, which came into effect from midnight on New Year's Eve 1971, those exempted from wearing a belt were children under 14, passengers over 71, people who had a medical exemption, those who had a certificate from the Registrar of Motor Vehicles that it was "impracticable for them to wear a seat belt because of their physical characteristics", and "people who hold a certificate of exemption under the laws of another state or territory".
No exemptions were given for taxi drivers and hire car drivers in the ACT, which sparked an outcry at the time.
"Being tied up in a seat belt will cost us money and make it difficult to operate our business," one driver told The Canberra Times.
"Some of the drivers when strapped into a seat belt cannot change the channels on their radio. This is a very important part of working a cab and we are very restricted.
"None of us have arms long enough to reach back to the rear doors to open it for passengers."
The manager of Aerial Taxis, Ted Lambert, said that when 80 taxis were involved, the extra cents lost in buckling and unbuckling worked out to "quite a big loss over a period of time".
An assault on a taxi driver in Kingston three days after the mandate came into effect raised a further uproar when the driver said he was put in a dangerous position when two youths lured him from his vehicle on the pretext of a flat tyre, attacked him and stole $40.
"When the driver is belted in, he is in a slightly more dangerous position ... he has not the same freedom to defend himself against an attack," the driver said.
In Victoria, the first state in Australia to mandate seatbelts, cab drivers were refusing to wear them.
Pilots I worked with in the aerospace industry were willing to put on almost anything to keep them safe in case of a crash, but regular people in cars don't want to be uncomfortable even for a minute.
Nils Bohlin, inventor of the three-point seatbelt
Another curious anomaly within the legislation exempted drivers who "get in and out of their vehicles often and drive under 15 mph (24km/h)". This was seen to apply most specifically to milkmen making door to door deliveries, and to some postmen in rural areas.
One notable exemption to the new law in the ACT was the prime pinister at the time, Billy McMahon.
He was exempt because his official vehicle, a black Bentley bearing the C1 number plate, did not have belts fitted.
Shortly after the seatbelt law was introduced, the head of the ACT police traffic section, Inspector P. D. McConaghy, said that an "educational period" would apply for two weeks to allow people to become accustomed to the new law.
The three-point seatbelt was first invented by Swedish mechanical engineer Nils Bohlin, who first joined Saab's aircraft division to work on ejection seats, then joined Volvo as a safety engineer in 1958.
Before then, safety belts commonly used a single strap with a buckle over the stomach, a design which risked injury to internal organs in high-speed crashes.
Bohlin worked for a year on a simple, comfortable alternative that would protect both the upper and lower body. His three-point solution allowed occupants to buckle up with one hand, using one strap across the chest and another across the lap and the buckle placed next to the hip.
"In a way, my design works as much because the belt is comfortable for the user as it does because it is safer," Bohlin said when he was inducted into the US National Inventors Hall of Fame.
"The pilots I worked with in the aerospace industry were willing to put on almost anything to keep them safe in case of a crash, but regular people in cars don't want to be uncomfortable even for a minute," he said.
On Thursday, August 13, 1959, the world's first car with standard-fit three-point safety belts - a Volvo PV544 - was delivered to the Volvo dealer in the Swedish town of Kristianstad. Over the next 50 years, the V-shaped three-point safety belt has saved well over one million lives.
