1. Home
  2. TRID
  3. View Record
https://www.nationalacademies.org/trb/events

EFFECTIVENESS OF SEAT BELTS

This paper contains results of a statistical examination of the effectiveness of seat belts in reducing the number of motor vehicle drivers killed or injured in Victoria. The Victorian Police Road Traffic Accidents Statistics Sheets for 1970, the period before the seat belt legislation became effective, were analyzed to determine whether seat belt wearing was associated with a reduction in the road traffic accident casualties sustained by drivers of cars, station wagons, panel vans and utilities. Tests of data from a population of over 18,000 cases revealed that belt wearing was a highly significant factor in (a) reducing driver fatalities, and (b) reducing the numbers of drivers injured to a degree requiring surgical or medical treatment. Drivers were chosen for the study because they were a homogeneous group consistently at risk in every accident vehicle. However, research investigations in the Bureau of Census and Statistics in Canberra support the view that these findings are applicable to all occupants of cars, station wagons, panel vans and utilities. The significance levels for drivers were higher in "built-up" areas than for "not built-up" areas. /AUTHOR/

  • Availability:
  • Corporate Authors:

    Australian Medical Publishing Company, Limited

    71-79 Arundel, Glebe
    Sydney, New South Wales 2037,   Australia 
  • Authors:
    • Pratt, W N
    • Richardson, D F
    • Yeoh, B M
  • Publication Date: 1973-12-22

Media Info

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00127161
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Source Agency: National Safety Council Safety Research Info Serv
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Jan 14 1976 12:00AM