INJURIES FATAL TO AUTO OCCUPANTS USING SEAT BELTS

A series of auto driver and passenger fatalities is reported in which each of the deceased was using a voluntary belt restraint system ("lap belts" or "3-point belts") at the moment of the fatal crash. A reconstruction of each lethal episode, based upon vehicle examination, police reports and autopsy data, leads to the following conclusions: with rare exceptions, deaths occurred in spite of and not because of belt use; 2-point lap belts do not consistently prevent fatal injury in high speed crashes. Notwithstanding the foregoing, however, a comparison of fatality incidence in belted vs. non-belted victims yields a significant degree of nonrepresentation of belt users in the total crash fatality population.

• Corporate Authors:

  American Association for Automotive Medicine

  801 Green Bay Road
  Lake Bluff, IL  United States  60044

  American Association for Automotive Medicine

  1211 West 22nd Street
  Oak Brook, IL  United States  60523
• Authors:
  • Harris, L S
  • Wright, R K
• Conference:
  • 18th Annual Conference of the American Association for Automotive Medicine
  • Location: Toronto Ontario, Canada
  • Date: 1974-9-12 to 1974-9-14
• Publication Date: 1974

Media Info

• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: 7 p.
• Serial:
  • Volume: 18

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash injury research; Crash victims; Fatalities; Manual safety belts; Passive restraint systems; Restraint systems; Vehicle occupancy
• Old TRIS Terms: Occupant restraint; Passenger restraints; Passive protection devices
• Subject Areas: Highways; Research; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00081284
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Highway Safety Research Institute
• Contract Numbers: DOT-HS-047-1-063, DOT-HS-031-2-303, DOT-FH-11-7526
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 26 1975 12:00AM