A STUDY OF SEAT RESTRAINT USE AND EFFECTIVENESS IN TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS

IN A STUDY OF 4,571 ACCIDENTS, ALL VEHICLE OCCUPANTS NOT USING SEAT BELTS WERE OBSERVED TO BE MORE THAN FOUR TIMES AS LIKELY TO BE KILLED AS THOSE OCCUPANTS USING SEAT BELTS. THE ADVANTAGE OF SEAT BELT USE WAS SHOWN TO BE EVEN GREATER IN THE FRONT SEATS OF PASSENGER CARS, WHERE UNRESTRAINED OCCUPANTS WERE MORE THAN FIVE TIMES AS LIKELY TO BE KILLED AS THOSE WEARING SEAT BELTS. OF OVER 12,797 OCCUPANTS OBSERVED IN THE STUDY, 20% WERE WEARING SOME TYPE OF RESTRAINT. ABOUT 65% OF ALL OCCUPANTS HAD SOME RESTRAINT AVAILABLE, BUT ONLY 31% OF THESE USED THEM. ONLY 4% OF OCCUPANTS HAVING SHOULDER BELTS AVAILABLE USED THEM. SEAT BELTS APPEAR TO BE OF GREATER VALUE IN THE 41-50 MPH RANGE. /HSL/

• Corporate Authors:

  Highway Safety Foundation

  Mansfield, OH  United States 
• Publication Date: 1970-1

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash analysis; Crash severity; Manual safety belts; Shoulder harnesses; Traffic crashes; Utilization; Vehicle occupants
• Old TRIS Terms: Shoulder harness
• Subject Areas: Highways; Passenger Transportation; Research; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00223266
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Highway Safety Literature
• Report/Paper Numbers: 20 pp
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 26 1970 12:00AM