Today's motorists might take safety features like seat belts, airbags and child car seats as a given, but these essential elements are relatively new additions to the UK's roads.
From a period when it was legal for drivers to consume alcohol while driving, to a time when children could travel without any restraints in the front seat, experts at Lancaster Insurance, a classic car insurance specialist, have put together a list of past motoring rules and regulations that might astonish you.
Yvonne Gosney, senior trading manager at Lancaster Insurance, walks us through them.
In today's world, we wouldn't consider starting a journey without buckling up, but it wasn't until 1983 that front seat belts became mandatory in British cars. It took until 1991 for passengers in the back to be legally obliged to fasten their seatbelts.
There was a time when it was perfectly normal, and indeed legal, for children to sit in the front or back of a car without any restraint. The concept of child car seats didn't become part of UK law until 2006, although safety standards have naturally improved since then.
"Booster-style seats for children first appeared in the 1930s, but these were not designed with safety in mind. It wasn't until the 60s and 70s when car seats became more popular and although their use was recommended, it wasn't until 2006 when they were required by law," Yvonne explained.
Many Britons would be shocked to learn that drink-driving laws weren't established until relatively recently. Prior to 1967, no legal blood alcohol threshold existed for motorists in the UK.
Police could only prosecute drivers who appeared visibly intoxicated, and the arrival of breathalysers and legal limits sparked considerable debate.
"The introduction of drink driving laws in 1967 marked a shift towards preventative safety and not reactive enforcement," added Yvonne.
It might sound bizarre now, but motorists were perfectly entitled to use mobile phones whilst driving until 2003. The legislation wasn't strengthened to prohibit all handheld usage until 2022.
The 70mph national speed restriction for motorways and dual carriageways wasn't implemented until 1965, initially as an interim solution. Following multiple severe collisions and safety concerns, it became permanent in 1967. Previously, motorists faced no upper speed constraints.
"A 30-mph limit for built-up areas was established earlier, in 1934," added Yvonne.
Even fundamental vehicle safety checks were once remarkably lenient. MOT testing only started in 1960 and initially covered solely vehicles exceeding ten years of age.
Those early examinations concentrated on basic mechanical faults, rather than the protective safety equipment that modern drivers consider essential. "In the early phases, many features we now see as essential to safety weren't tested or didn't exist. For example, seatbelts weren't even part of the MOT until the 80s," Yvonne explained.
British drivers once had no legal obligation to fit indicators, meaning motorists had to stick their arms out of the window to signal turns and lane changes. Electric flashing indicators started becoming common in the 1950s and were standard equipment on new vehicles by the 1960s.
"However, it wasn't until the late 80s that vehicles first used after that date were required to have specific, standardised amber indicators at the front, rear, and sides, in the form we recognise today," Yvonne noted.
Now considered essential safety equipment, airbags only featured in a small number of vehicles during the 1970s and weren't commonplace until the 1990s.
"Again, this signals the improvements in road safety that have occurred in the UK in the past few decades," Yvonne continued. "Modern motoring is built around safety, so it's almost impossible to imagine just how different things were when many of today's classic cars first took to the roads.
"The idea that drivers weren't required to wear seatbelts, that children could travel without car seats, or that you could legally drink while driving feels unbelievable to us now - but that's the world these cars were born into. For us, that's part of the charm of classic cars as pieces of history and how they tell the story of a very different era on Britain's roads."
