S.I. No. 96/1971:

ROAD TRAFFIC (CONSTRUCTION, EQUIPMENT AND USE OF VEHICLES) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1971.

ROAD TRAFFIC (CONSTRUCTION, EQUIPMENT AND USE OF VEHICLES) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1971.

The Minister for Local Government in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 5 and 11 of the Road Traffic Act, 1961 , (No. 24 of 1961) hereby makes the following Regulations:

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Road Traffic (Construction, Equipment and Use of Vehicles) (Amendment) Regulations, 1971.

(2) The Road Traffic (Construction, Equipment and Use of Vehicles) Regulations, 1963 to 1970 and these Regulations shall be construed as one and may be cited together as the Road Traffic (Construction, Equipment and Use of Vehicles) Regulations, 1963 to 1971.

2. In these Regulations--

"adjusting device" means a device, which may be part of the buckle or be a retractor other than a non-locking retractor, enabling a safety belt to be adjusted according to the requirements of the individual wearer and the position of the seat;

"the Agreement of 1958" means the United Nations Agreement Concerning The Adoption Of Uniform Conditions Of Approval and Reciprocal Recognition Of Approval For Motor Vehicle Equipment And Parts, done at Geneva on 20th March, 1958;

"anchorage point" means the part of the vehicle structure to which a safety belt attachment may be secured;

"approved standard mark" means any of the marks set out in Column 2 or Column 3 of the Second Schedule to these Regulations;

"national standard" means a standard applying in relation to an item of vehicle equipment in any of the countries set out in Column 1 of the Second Schedule to these Regulations;

"Regulation No. 14" means Regulation No. 14 as set out in United Nations document of reference E/ECE/324: Rev. 1/Add. 13, dated 30 January, 1970 and annexed to the Agreement of 1958;

"Regulation No. 16" means Regulation No. 16 as set out in United Nations document of reference E/ECE/324: Rev. 1/Add. 15, dated 14 August, 1970 and annexed to the Agreement of 1958;

"Regulation No. 17" means Regulation No. 17 as set out in United Nations document of reference E/ECE/324: Rev. 1/Add. 16, dated 14 August, 1970 and annexed to the Agreement of 1958;

"retractor" means a device to accommodate part or the whole of the strap of a safety belt;

"safety belt" means a safety belt as defined in sub-paragraph 2.1 of Regulation No. 16.

3. (1) A vehicle to which this article applies shall be equipped with anchorage points for safety belts for use by persons in the front seats of the vehicle.

(2) The anchorage points referred to in sub-article (1) of this article shall save as provided in sub-article (3) of this article comply with--

(a) the requirements of paragraphs 5 and 6 and related annexes of Regulation No. 14, or

(b) a national standard for such anchorage points.

(3) Where the anchorage points referred to in sub-article (1) of this article are an integral part of the seat structure the total seat installation shall be capable of withstanding the following forces applied simultaneously in a forward longitudinal direction--

(a) the appropriate test loads for anchorage points and seat anchorages prescribed in Regulation No. 14 and Regulation No. 17 respectively; or

(b) the appropriate test loads prescribed in a national standard for anchorage points fitted as an integral part of the seat structure.

(4) A vehicle to which this article applies shall be legibly and permanently marked with one of the approved standard marks set out in Column 3 of the Second Schedule to these Regulations.

(5) Subject to sub-article (6) this article applies--

(a) to every passenger vehicle and station wagon having passenger accommodation for not more than eight persons exclusive of the driver, first registered on or after the 1st day of June, 1971, and

(b) to every goods vehicle not exceeding 30 cwts. in weight unladen first registered on or after the 1st day of June, 1971.

(6) This article shall not apply to electrically propelled goods vehicles which are not capable of exceeding a speed of 24 miles per hour on a dry level road under normal atmospheric conditions.

4. (1) A vehicle to which this article applies shall be fitted with--

(a) a safety belt for use by the driver of the vehicle, and

(b) a safety belt for use by a passenger--

(i) in the case of a vehicle which has one forward-facing front seat alongside the driver's seat, in such seat, or

(ii) in the case of a vehicle which has more than one such seat, in such of those seats as is furthest from the driver's seat and foremost in the vehicle.

(2) A safety belt with which a vehicle is fitted under sub-article (1) of this article shall be such and so maintained as to comply with the requirements of paragraphs 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 13 and related annexes of Regulation No. 16 or with a national standard and such safety belt shall--

(a) be a diagonal belt, a three point belt or a harness belt as defined in Regulation No. 16;

(b) be securely attached to the anchorage points provided for it under article 3 of these Regulations;

(c) in the case of a belt fitted with a retractor, satisfy the requirements of the First Schedule to these Regulations;

(d) be clearly and indelibly marked--

(i) with one of the approved standard marks set out in Column 2 of the Second Schedule to these Regulations, and

(ii) with the belt manufacturer's name, initials, trade name or trade-mark.

(3) This article applies to every vehicle to which article 3 of these Regulations applies.

5. Where a vehicle which does not comply with the relevant provisions of articles 3 and 4 of these Regulations is used in a public place by a person who is not the owner of the vehicle such owner shall also, subject to paragraph (b) of sub-section 5 of section 11 of the Road Traffic Act, 1961 , be guilty of an offence.

6. The provisions of article 2 of the Road Traffic (Construction, Equipment and Use of Vehicles) (Amendment) Regulations, 1965 ( S.I. No. 79 of 1965 ) shall not apply to vehicles to which article 3 of these Regulations applies.

FIRST SCHEDULE.

STANDARD FOR RETRACTORS.

1. Definitions

"Non-locking retractor" means a retractor from which the strap is extracted to its full length by a small external force and which provides no adjustment for assembly length.

"Manually unlocking retractor" means a retractor requiring the manual operation of a device by the user to unlock the retractor in order to obtain the desired strap extraction and which locks automatically when the said operation ceases.

"Automatically locking retractor" means a retractor allowing extraction of the strap to the desired length and which, when the buckle is fastened, automatically adjusts the strap to the wearer, further extraction of the strap being prevented without voluntary intervention by the wearer.

"Emergency locking retractor" means a retractor which during normal driving conditions does not restrict freedom of movement by the wearer of the safety belt, has length adjusting components which automatically adjust the strap to the wearer and has a single or multiple sensitivity locking mechanism actuated in an emergency by one or more of the following--

(i) acceleration of the vehicle in any direction,

(ii) movement of the strap relative to the vehicle, or

(iii) other automatic means.

2. Standard of Durability

The strap shall be capable of being withdrawn from the retractor and allowed to retract 5,000 times both before and after complying with the dust resistance standard set out in paragraph 3 of this Schedule.

In the case of emergency locking retractors the strap shall be capable of being withdrawn from the retractor and allowed to retract 40,000 times before, and 5,000 times after, complying with the dust resistance standard set out in paragraph 3 of this Schedule and during such withdrawals and retractions shall be capable of being snatch-locked at every fifth cycle and at each of five different extracted lengths namely 90 per cent, 80 per cent, 75 per cent, 70 per cent and 65 per cent of the final 900 millimetres of the strap which can be withdrawn from the retractor.

3. Standard of Dust Resistance

The retractor shall be capable of 10 complete cycles of withdrawal and retraction every 20 minutes for 5 hours in an atmosphere laden with graded dust particles with maximum diameters of 150 microns, 105 microns and 75 microns after which the retractor shall be capable of complying with the requirements of paragraph 4 of this Schedule.

4. Standards of Performance

The strap of the lap component of a safety belt assembly equipped with a non-locking retractor shall be capable of being extracted from a non-locking retractor to within 6 millimetres of its maximum length under a residual tension not exceeding 13·7 newtons after an initial load of 17·7 newtons is applied in the normal direction of pull. A shoulder strap shall similarly be capable of being extracted when a tension not exceeding 5 newtons is applied in the normal direction of pull. The strap of a safety belt assembly shall be capable of being extracted from a manually unlocking retractor to within 6 millimetres of its maximum length when a tension of not less than 13·7 newtons is applied to the strap in the normal direction of pull.

The strap of a safety belt assembly equipped with a manually unlocking retractor or an automatically locking retractor shall not be capable of moving more than 25 millimetres between locking positions of the retractor.

If the retractor is part of a lap belt, the retracting force on the strap shall be not less than 2·5 newtons. If the retractor is part of an upper torso restraint, the retracting force on the strap shall be not less than 2 newtons and not more than 5 newtons.

An emergency locking retractor with single sensitivity shall be capable of locking at a deceleration or acceleration not exceeding 3·9 metres per second per second. A retractor with sensitivity additional to one which is activated by vehicle deceleration or acceleration shall be capable of locking at maximum decelerations or accelerations of 3·9 metres per second per second for one of the sensitivities and 5·9 metres per second per second for the other sensitivities and shall be capable of locking within 75 millimetres of strap movement when the initial strap extraction is 760 millimetres and within 25 millimetres when such extraction is 150 millimetres. If the retractor is part of a lap belt, the retracting force on the strap shall be not less than 7 newtons. If the retractor is part of an upper torso restraint, the retracting force on the strap shall be not less than 2 newtons and not more than 5 newtons.

The retractor shall be capable of locking at each of the following strap extractions, where appropriate:--

Unwound to full length less:

(a) 760 millimetres ± 3 millimetres

(b) 450 millimetres ± 3 millimetres

(c) 150 millimetres ± 3 millimetres

In the case of a retractor actuated by strap movement, the extraction shall be in the direction in which it normally occurs when the retractor is installed in a vehicle. The requirement in relation to sensitivity to vehicle decelerations or accelerations shall be capable of being satisfied at each of the above extractions in turn, in both directions along three mutually perpendicular axes. One of these axes shall be horizontal and lie in the direction which, were the retractors to be installed in a vehicle as specified by the safety belt manufacturer would be parallel to the longitudinal axis of that vehicle. The positioning of the upper anchorage point shall not impair the sensitivity of the retractor.

SECOND SCHEDULE.

Ø*This number varies and relates to the country which issued the approval.

+†This is an approval number and varies in relation to the item and type of vehicle equipment approved.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Local Government this 15th day of March, 1971.

ROBERT MOLLOY,

Minister for Local Government.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations make it obligatory to fit safety belts and anchorage points of prescribed standards in cars, station wagons and light goods vehicles for use by the driver and the front seat passenger farthest from him. The Regulations apply to cars, station wagons and light goods vehicles first registered on or after 1st June, 1971.