6 dangerous ways our parents drove that would see them lose their license today

Nowadays, we wouldn't dream of setting off on any journey without first fastening our seatbelts, but the life-saving device only became mandatory for those in the front of the car in 1983; it would be another eight years before they became compulsory for everyone in the vehicle.

It was common in the past, especially if a driver was just popping down to the shops or on an equally short journey, not to bother fastening it before starting their journey. And even though seatbelts have saved countless lives since their introduction, there was a lot of pushback against the law, ranging from fears about government overreach to concern over wasting police time.

My dad remembered: "We used to sit in the back of our great-grandfather's car with no seatbelts, and were thrown all over the place. We thought it was absolutely fabuolous!"

Many of us will have fond memories of our parents allowing us to sit on their laps during drives around the street, letting us turn the wheel while they handled the pedals, but this isn't an action we'd be allowed to repeat with our children.

Since 1993, it has been illegal to have an unbelted child sitting on your lap while driving, with the law updated so drivers maintain full focus on the road.

Driving in the winter is never fun, and it's made even slower by the need to defrost the windscreen and other windows before setting off. When our parents were new road users, one of the most common ways to defrost was to leave the car idling on the street while keeping an eye on it from the warm indoors.

However, since 1986, it has been illegal to leave a car idling unattended on a public road, but thankfully private driveways are exempt. Fines are in place if drivers breach this law.

While my dad would often remain in the vehicle while defrosting, he did remember people attempting to defrost their cars with boiling water, which would often lead to the windscreen shattering.

Hopefully none of your parents ever did this, but as cars started becoming popular, littering from a vehicle became a major issue. Laws were in place as early as the 1950s to stop the scourge, but it proved difficult to enforce as it was often unclear who the actual litterbug was.

However, since 2018, rules have changed, allowing councils to fine the owner of any car from which litter is thrown, no matter who actually threw it out the window.

Smoking was a huge trend for our parents' generation, with no laws mandating where someone could light a cigarette. As the health problems that cigarettes cause have become better understood, stricter laws have been introduced regarding where people are allowed to smoke.

While many of us will have experienced our parents or grandparents smoking in the car while we sat in the back seats, since 2015, it has been illegal to smoke in a car if anyone under the age of 18 is also inside the vehicle.

If a parent was taking their child out for the day, it was not uncommon for the neighbours' children to all pile in as well, even if that meant some did not have seats. This just meant that kids would be sitting on laps or crouching on the floor.

However, in 1991, the Road Traffic Act was amended to make it illegal to operate a car if the number of passengers, or the manner in which they were transported, involved the danger of injury.

My dad recalled having six people in the back of the car, with people sitting on laps in order to get places even without seatbelts.