THE PERFORMANCE OF SEAT BELTS IN SEVERE CRASHES

This paper reports an intensive follow-up study of persons injured while wearing seat belts in crashes. Examinations of both vehicles and persons were carried out after the crash, and 30 out of 54 (55.5%) persons were judged to have been wearing seat belts at impact. Eight received injuries from the seat belt, only four of these injuries being severe, and none was fatal. A roadside survey showed that half of the occupants wearing seat belts had them adjusted incorrectly. This compared with nearly 90% of the crash cases having incorrectly adjusted belts. There is, therefore, an association between incorrectly worn seat belts and injury. The seat belt buckle seems to be a possible cause of injury in this situation, especially when worn in front of the hip, and with a loose belt. Comparison of police reports of belt wearing for the study cases suggests an underestimate of about 10% in the wearing rate if police data are used. /Author/SRIS/

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/0025729X
• Corporate Authors:

  Australian Medical Publishing Company, Limited

  71-79 Arundel, Glebe
  Sydney, New South Wales 2037,   Australia 
• Authors:
  • RYAN, G A
• Publication Date: 1975

Media Info

• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 899-901
• Serial:
  • Medical Journal of Australia
  • Issue Number: 2
  • Publisher: Australasian Medical Publishing Company
  • ISSN: 0025-729X
  • Serial URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13265377

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash injury research; Crashes; Data collection; Injuries; Manual safety belts; Measures of effectiveness; Research; Surveys; Utilization
• Uncontrolled Terms: Effectiveness
• Subject Areas: Highways; Research; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00131676
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Safety Council Safety Research Info Serv
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 14 1976 12:00AM