Classic owners are encouraging fellow enthusiasts to fit seatbelts to older classics if possible – even if they aren’t a legal requirement.

Last month CCW reported on concerns raised by the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs about whether roadside cameras designed to detect drivers not wearing seatbelts would lead to owners of pre-1965 vehicles – for which seatbelts aren’t a legal requirement – being issued with notices of intended prosecution.

While Northampton Police told CCW that classic owners should get in touch with the police directly if they believe they’ve been issued fines incorrectly, that force and Thames Valley Police both encouraged enthusiasts to fit and wear seatbelts if they’re in a position to do so – and a number of CCW readers who’ve fitted seatbelts to pre-’65 cars are now encouraging fellow owners to follow suit.

Phil Checketts, from Worcester, said: I recently fitted lap and diagonal static belts to my 1962 Ford Zodiac.

‘It came without any belts or fixing holes, the main reason for fitting them was for front passenger safety. I didn’t feel it was fair to expect any front-seat passenger to take the risk that I as the driver was prepared to take. My passenger and I now wear the belts every time and don’t even think about it!’

Sandra O’Sullivan, who has also fitted her classic with seatbelts, said: ‘People often assume that because they consider themselves to be a careful driver that they will be okay – but it’s the others on the roads to be wary of.

‘As a seat-belt survivor of a head-on crash in the 1990s in a then ‘modern’ with a lorry that was on the wrong side of the road, I accept that my view is coloured. While crashes involving classics are rare, the ones reported seem to almost always caused by the driver of the ‘modern’ with the poor classic driver and their passengers being in the wrong place at the wrong time.’

Richard Driver, said: ‘In 1994 I had my Ford Zodiac fully fitted with seatbelts. I used the car extensively with our children in the back, nicely safe in their belts. I now own a 1963 Ford Galaxie convertible and the first job after purchasing her was having front and rear seatbelts fitted. Nowadays it just doesn’t feel right to not wear them. I am 70 years old so was well used to not having or wearing belts.’

Gary Coleman, from Hampshire, said that he would always fit classics with seatbelts after recently suffering injuries as a passenger in a modern car that hit a van that pulled out in front of it.

He said: ‘This could quite easily have been a classic on drum brakes at 40mph on a pleasant country drive. A lapse in concentration on another driver’s part is all that is needed. I shudder to think of my resultant condition if there were no seatbelts. I am all for retaining originality of classics, however some sense must be seriously considered around safety.’

But David Jones, who owns a 1960 Lancia Appia, pointed out that retrofitting classics with belts isn’t always straightforward: ‘I agree that where possible seatbelts should be retrofitted for safety’s sake for the car occupants. That being said, there are probably many vehicles where it’s impossible to do this. My Appia saloon has no B-post and I wouldn’t dream of drilling into the car’s roof or any other visible part of the car to fit belts.

‘I imagine it would be a possibility to fit lap belts, but these in their own way can also be dangerous.’