Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of mandating three point seatbelts to be fitted on coaches in (a) Yeovil constituency and (b) other rural areas.

The Department for Transport is committed to improving road safety and incidents involving buses and coaches are rare – national casualty statistics indicate that they are one of the safest forms of road transport.

Vehicle construction regulations are applied nationally, rather than on a constituency or other geographic basis, and have required all buses and coaches to be fitted with seat belts since 2001, except for those designed and authorised to carry standing passengers.

In large vehicles where the deceleration forces of a collision are generally lower than for smaller vehicles, a lap belt only is permitted providing other design criteria are met to prevent or limit injury. In smaller vehicles, or where these other design criteria cannot be met, a three-point belt is required.

International vehicle construction requirements, including those covering seat belts, are developed through the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, where they are kept under review to ensure they evolve to continuously drive forward vehicle safety.