Seat belt buckle guards illegal to use from 20/02/2023

[FROSTYBALLS]

DVSA has recently made a rule change making seat belt buckle guards illegal to use from Monday 20th February 2023.

A buckle guard/protector is a mechanism used to prevent children and young people un-buckling seatbelts.

Public service vehicle providers who, for example, provide school transportation will not be able to legally transport children and young people who require these devices for safe transport.

Parents who have used these in their private cars will also be unable to use buckle guards legally.

[Cyker]

Oh dear... have they provided alternate provision or made it legal for children not to wear seatbelts in e.g. school minibuses or something?

Otherwise they've just screwed over a lot of special needs schools...

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

8 minutes ago, Cyker said:

have they provided alternate provision or made it legal for children not to wear seatbelts in e.g. school minibuses or something?

No.

From what I've seen using these guards breaches part of the Road Vehicle (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986.

[Cyker]

Seems a bit of a weird and sudden change; I wonder what prompted it?

Do you know when they announced this? I don't think they realize how disruptive this change is going to be with such short notice - There are going to be a bunch of special needs kids who won't be going to school tomorrow by the sound of it!!

 

[flash22]

Cut and paste

 

On the topic of legislation, the government organisation said:

• Fitting buckle guards to a seat belt breaches the Road Vehicle (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, regulation 48 (4).
• The purpose of regulation 48 (“Maintenance of seat belts and anchorage points”) is to ensure that maintenance is adequate to ensure the safety of the vehicle passenger.
• The use of a seat belt buckle guard is a deliberate and intended addition to the seat belt and is not exempt under regulation 48 (5) of the regulations.”

 

The DVSA’s guidance is to not use buckle guards. Those who do may face penalties.

 

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1986/1078/regulation/48/made

[FROSTYBALLS]

16 minutes ago, Cyker said:

I wonder what prompted it?

Seems that DVSA have only recently become aware that some PSV operators have been using these guards, and the announcement of the change came out approx 10 days ago. 

Some councils have been caught out by the change, but may not have been aware of what was being used, etc.