it's official • A law governing the use of front
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seatbelts will be introduced next month — and it states that truck drivers will not be exempt from seatbelt legislation. This removes any room for argument that truck drivers are not legally required to wear them.
Under the regulations introduced on 31 January 1983 truck drivers have only been required to wear belts in trucks in which they are fitted. Belts do not have to be fitted in all trucks — this will not be required until a European Directive comes into force in 1997.
There is a requirement to fit anchorage points. But because trucks are not specified in the current regulations there has been persistent confusion — and ignorance — in the industry over whether truck drivers are legally required to wear belts.
However, in 1991 the then transport minister Christopher Chope said that truck drivers were not exempt from the requirement.