Turn signals and seat belts
 

I own a 43 Ford GPW and a 1945 WC51 Truck neither have seat belts or turn signals and I live in Ontario. As of now is it still legal to drive these vehicles without turn signals and seat belts ? Thank you

I would be very surprised to see a province or state make seatbelts mandatory for vehicles that did not have them in the first place. Here in Manitoba, there is a cut-off date of 1970, so I am guessing the Dept of Transport for Caanda made them mandatory in that year.

Here is an excerpt from your province wrt seatbelts:

Seat belts

Seat belt assembly must not be removed or altered

106. (1) No person shall drive on a highway a motor vehicle in which a seat belt assembly required under the Motor Vehicle Safety Act (Canada) at the time that the vehicle was manufactured or imported into Canada has been removed, rendered partly or wholly inoperative, modified so as to reduce its effectiveness or is not operating properly through lack of maintenance.
Use of seat belt assembly by driver

(2) Every person who drives on a highway a motor vehicle in which a seat belt assembly is provided for the driver shall wear the complete seat belt assembly as required by subsection (5).

Thanks Rob I called MTO and they said basically a historic vehicle that was originally made without seatbelts prior to 1974 does not require them still, what I wish to confirm now is turn signal lights. My vehicles were never originally made with them. She could not find that provision in the Ontario Hwy act only because she did not have time to research it. So without having to read 500 pages lol I hope someone here can confirm this.

Same rule about what was orIginal at time of manufacturing applies for turn signals. I do believe that all vehicles must have one red brake light and no white lights turned on facing the rear unless the vehicle is reversing.

I believe the only requirement for turn signals on a vehicle regardless of age is if the vehicle is over a certain width. I seem to recal it is 80" wide.

Thank you for the help everyone.

In Ontario there is no exemption from having a licence plate light, even if not equipped at time of manufacture. For M-series vehicles like an M38, I run a short wire from a light on the licence plate bracket to the trailer plug receptacle and push it into an appropriate hoke for the tail light circuit.

traffic tid bits
 

Hello

Some traffic tidbits

The others are correct in that seat-belts are not required in Ontario for pre-1970 vehicles. If you do decide to install them they should be installed by an authorized person (good luck with that) and then you would be required to use them.

Brian is correct about the licence plate light, however as long as the plate is visible you should not have an issue.

Electronic Signals are not required, but you do need to signal using your arm.
Most people do not realize that when slowing down they have to indicate such, so if they are downshifting they still need to touch the brake or use their arm to indicate such.

If you have a right hand drive with no electronic signals you need a sign indicating such.

On another note if you have a Year of Manufacture plate registered to the vehicle you can attach the Validation sticker to a little plate attached to the YOM plate. It does not have to be attached directly to the YOM plate.

Thanks

Eric

Brian...during dvr wh trg at LFCTA (Now 4 Div TC), I asked our Adm Clk, who was heading to Tpt, to pick up a couple of licence plate lights for our MLVWs.
(MLVWs did not have licence plate lights).

I sorta fell out of favour with her after she returned, steaming mad that she'd been duped. No sense of humour!

Thank you Eric.

As someone who applies the regulations daily, it is important for us to hear your input.

Would a licenced vehicle inspection station be approved to install seat belts? If they can tell me to close off the factory rain drain holes, I'd hope they had the power to certify the cotter pins on my seat belt bolts.

BTW, for weeks I've fumed silently about a particular traffic behaviour in my neighbourhood. Tonight, I watched a driver predictably misbehave that same way, and tonight there was a marked car RIGHT behind the incident vehicle lighting him up. Ah seeing my tax dollars at work!

My 2 cents....
 

Hi Elvis.... just my 2 cents on the subject. Whether or not the provincial and/or federal governments have a jurisdiction over these areas, well it depends on each area of Canada or basically where you live world wide. Myself personally, I would agree with the contents thus far with the seat belt law. I have an 67 M38A1 with seat belts in the front seats only and I use them. The back seats do not have them and I have never researched whether they were used or added to this vehicle over it's life span within the Armed Forces. However.....the fact is when ever I can, I drive the jeep with the wind shield down and those seat belts just give me that little bit extra security. Whether they save my life or not....well news at eleven!

As far as signals are concerned, I wouldn't drive any military vehicle anywhere without "proper" UP TO PAR turn signals and brake lights. All of my vehicles are equipped with them.....AND even then, it is amazing how many " blind" people are on the road today. Gentlemen...I live in Vancouver the "United Nations of Drivers Licences". I rest my case! Robert :thup:

And on another quick note.....
 

Where the heck did you get a Tag of Elvis 3006? A lot of names here, but Elvis....I gots to know!!! Robert :confused

I recall that when my parents bought a 1966 car (in Ontario - but I believe the required equipment is a federal standard), front belts were standard but rear were an option (price $7 if memory is good). There was a further option of "deluxe" belts that gave you a push-button release rather than lever action. When they bought a 1971, I think it had rear belts standard but I'm not sure. Interesting the odd bits that stick in memory while others don't.

I have often wondered why seatbelts in an MV? The way I see it, a collision in an MV is more than likely to kill or permanently disable a person anyways...

To belt or not to belt that is the question
 

Hi Chris

Without high jacking the original point of this thread. Seat belts, or improved lighting are a reasonable progression to this discussion

Now as to belts, I have them on all my CMPs accept the rear seat of the HUP, which I have to do before my grand kids can ride back there. It is as much staying put in the seat. For the driver it is being stable in the seat to drive. Off roading bouncing up out of the seat on a CMP is not uncommon, with your feet and hands being your only points of contact with the truck it is really hard to control the vehicle. The normal belt concept of staying with the vehicle in an accident guess that depends on what you hit.

Given the realities of driving on the ever more congested roads (at least in my area) trying to improve the visibility of the tail light is important. I'm currently looking at LED replacement bulbs even though I long ago augmented the original 1inch CMP tail lights with 3 inch commercial units.

If the original question concerning what is require in Elvis's providence has been answered. Should we progress to the question of how to improve the lighting on our MVs without totally loosing authentic appearance?

Cheers Phil

Phil, I agree with you regarding how seat belts can aid in keeping you in your seat. I suppose that I was merely pointing out a reality for those who might fall into a false sense of security, believing that they would really do much.

As far as lighting; I always have always added either more original lights to the tail of of any MV, mounted in original style fashion to avoid looking like they were an addition. In cases where original was not the best, I have at least purchased mil-spec lights from another vehicle to look the part, eg M series lights on a CMP.
Much better than civvy added lights. This is another area where a 12v upgrade to the existing electrical system doesn't really stick out but adds another margin of safety. Turn sigs are a pretty simple addition as well.

Seat belts
 

Hi Elvis,

I just newly licensed a 67's M38A1 here in Ontario about 3 weeks ago. I do have military installed seat belts & turn signals but when I went to do my safety & then get it plated....both the garage and Service Ontario said that they are not required because they originally did not come with them from the factory....I was told by an ex mechanic in CFB Petawawa that the seat belts & turn signals were added by DOD in the early 80's just before the M38A1's were replaced.

lk

Les: Your mechanic is not telling you the truth. Those were both in the Jeeps, either from the factory (the signals) or add-on (the seatbelts) long before the 1980s.

Seatbelts
 

Hello

Based on the information for Ontario. Seatbelts added or modified must be done so by an authorized person, such as a dealership or vehicle manufacture. General mechanics and those in the category where I fit in do not qualify.

Lighting is different and anybody can upgrade or improve lighting. I made an LED light bar to attach to my Willys MBT when being pulled by my GPW.
It can also be hooked up on my GPW as it uses the trailer plug in.

It gives better lighting but can be removed without modifications.

sorry no photos ... yet.

Eric