It may seem hard to believe but the wearing of seat belts in cars did not become compulsory in the UK until 1983 - and only in 1991 for rear seat passengers. Anchorage points for seat belts only became a legal UK requirement for new vehicles in 1965 so at the time of this news report there was no requirement for cars to even have seat belts, much less for anyone to wear them. Therefore, the presence of Miss Northern Ireland demonstrating the wearing of them was used to try and encourage people to do the safe thing.

An Ulster Television Production.