SNV 1980-1990: "Long time no seat belt" - Compulsory wearing of seat belts brings safety
According to the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention (bfu), the seat belt is still the most important road safety measure for vehicle occupants today - despite all the technical advances - and doubles their chance of surviving a road accident. Today, the obligation to wear a seat belt is a matter of course, but until it was introduced by law in 1981, there were long discussions and arguments. A look at another decade in the 100-year existence of the Swiss Association for Standardization (SNV).
The necessity of the seat belt is not recognized as such from the beginning and its history is correspondingly long, lasting until the 1980s! More than 20 years pass from its invention to its introduction in Switzerland. As early as 1959, the seat belt goes into series production with a Volvo model. In 1976, the Federal Council decides to make seat belts compulsory in Switzerland by decree, but the Federal Court annuls the compulsory requirement again due to a legal dispute. It takes another five years until, after the revision of the Road Traffic Act and a federal referendum, the law is narrowly accepted by the people and introduced from July 1981.
The Long Road to Compulsory Seat Belt Use
Today, the obligation to wear a seat belt is taken for granted by most people in Switzerland. Seat belts make an indispensable contribution to our safety on a daily basis and have been widely recognized since their introduction by law in the 1980s. To ensure that seat belts meet the complex safety requirements, they have also been discussed and standardized in international standardization work. The 1980s not only increase road safety with the compulsory wearing of seat belts, they are also the time when the airbag system, also an invention of the 1950s, finds its first important ways into vehicle construction (ISO 12097-1).
The 1980s as the birth of the information age
The beginning of the information age is dated to the early 1980s. Computer technology makes great progress, IBM launches the first personal computer and people scramble for new inventions such as answering machines, microwave ovens and CD players. The new sound carrier, the compact disc (CD), will replace the vinyl record by the end of the decade and become the new technology (SN EN 60908). The Internet protocol TCP/IP is also spreading worldwide and becomes the standard for networking (SN EN 62457).
Invisible helpers ensure safety and smooth interaction in everyday life
Just as we now rely on the safety of vehicle seat belts when buckling up in a car, we use countless objects every day that only thanks to standardized regulations, procedures and processes guarantee us absolutely unnoticed safety and ease of use.
Sources: Wikipedia, Bfu.ch, ISO, German Commission for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies DKE
