The three-point safety belt, the most basic safety item in any vehicle, is 50 years old this year after first being fitted to a Volvo in 1959. It has been estimated that safety belts have saved more than a million lives so far and they will continue to save over a hundred thousand lives a year.

The three-point belt was invented by Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin and fitted to 1959 model PV544 and Amazon 120s sold in Nordic countries from that year.

It is impossible to put an exact figure on the number of lives that the three-point belt …