Sections 14 and 15 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 contain the primary legislation. Both were first amended by the Road Traffic Amendment Act 1988 (Amendment) Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/3105).
Section 15 was subsequently amended by section 83 of and schedule 8 to the Road Traffic Act 1991, which made a consequential deletion. Section 14 was amended by section 100 of the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003 in respect of the exception for delivery drivers.
The Motor Vehicles (Wearing of Seat Belts) Regulations 1993 (SI 1993/176) and the Motor Vehicles (Wearing of Seat Belts by Children in Front Seats) Regulations 1993 (SI 1993/31) contain the detailed regulations made under the 1988 Act. These regulations were amended by:
The Motor Vehicles (Wearing of Seat Belts)(Amendment) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/27) in respect of the exemption for delivery drivers;
The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (Consequential and Supplementary Amendments to Secondary Legislation) Order 2006 (SI 2006/594) in respect of an exemption for SOCA officers in the course of duty; and
The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 (Consequential Amendments) (England) Order 2004 (SI 2004/3168) in relation to England, and the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 (Consequential Amendments) (Wales) Order 2005 (SI 2005/2929) in relation to Wales and the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 (Consequential Modifications and Amendments) (No. 2) Order 2005 (SSI 2005/344), in respect of changing references in an exemption from “fire brigade” to “fire and rescue services”.
The 1988 Act and both sets of regulations made in 1993 were further amended by the Motor Vehicles (Wearing of Seat Belts)(Amendment) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/1892) and the Motor Vehicles (Wearing of Seat Belts by Children in Front Seats)(Amendment) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/2213) in respect of changes required to implement the requirements of directive 2003/20/EC.
Further amendments are proposed to the regulations to require children aged three to 13 years to use seat belts in buses and coaches. This is a requirement of directive 2003/20/EC and is subject to further public consultation, which we hope to publish later this year.
Amendments are also required to the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 (SI 1986/1078) as well as to the seat belt wearing regulations in relation to the requirement to use child restraints to the approved standards of UNECE Regulation 44/03 and directive 77/541/EEC and any subsequent adaptations. These are being prepared following consultation.