The operation of vehicles is prohibited if:

Explanation

Both non-functioning seat belts and the fitting of objects that restrict the driver's view.

Both items appear on the list of prohibiting defects and each is separately enough to stop the vehicle; so the comprehensive answer is correct.

The seat belt is the first and most important occupant restraint system. If a belt the manufacturer provided for in the vehicle's design does not work — will not latch, will not retract, or its locking mechanism does not engage under hard braking — the airbag becomes ineffective too; an airbag is designed for a body held in place by a belt, not for a body thrown freely forward.

Restricting the view is just as serious: a curtain, a sticker, a hanging ornament, heavy tinting or any object that closes off the driver's field of view from the seat hides precisely the area in which a pedestrian, a cyclist or an approaching car appears. Intersection collisions and pedestrian impacts arise more from "not seeing" than from speed.

Worth memorising: in this chapter, occupant restraint equipment and anything relating to the driver's view are always on the prohibition list. If you see either of these in a question, you are almost always facing an affirmative answer.

• Correct but incomplete; a non-functioning belt really does prohibit operation, but choosing it alone means treating a restricted driver's view as permitted. • This too is correct on its own, but it sets the seat belt item aside and for that reason is not the complete answer.

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