SAFETY BELTS IN MOTORWAY TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS

SICHERHEITSGURTE BEI VERKEHRSUNFAELLEN AUFDER AUTABAHN

Despite a detectable decline in the number of drivers killed in foreign countries since the introduction of compulsory safety belts, the matter is still surrounded by controversy in the Federal Republic of Germany. In order to clarify the situation on motorways, the Stuttgart traffic commission has evaluated accidents which took place on the 250km of motorway under their jurisdiction between November 1974 and October 1975. All accidents studied in the survey involved vehicles subject to the laws implemented on 1St January 1976 governing the fitting of safety belts. In the case of each accident, the question as to whether the wearing of a safety belt had prevented injuries was answered on an appropriate form. 3391 accidents involving 5870 vehicles were dealt with in the survey. Of these 1028 accidents and 1495 vehicles remained to be assessed. The type of safety belt fitted was divided into three groups and 69 two point, 922 three point and 235 inertia reel safety belts were found to have been used. Only in one case was there any doubt as to whether the safety belt had been in use. It was confirmed that in 868 cases the safety belt had contributed to injury prevention and that in 68 cases it had not. /TRRL/

• Authors:
  • RAPP, R
  • Baier, F
• Publication Date: 1976-5

Language

• German

Media Info

• Features: Figures;
• Pagination: p. 169-170
• Serial:
  • National Swedish Road & Traffic Research Institute
  • Volume: 21
  • Issue Number: 5

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash analysis; Evaluation and assessment; Freeways; Injuries; Laws; Manual safety belts; Police; Prevention; Rear end crashes; Safety; Seat belts; Statistics; Surveillance; Traffic crashes; Traffic regulations
• ITRD Terms: 1661: Accident prevention; 9020: Evaluation (assessment); 2163: Injury; 2752: Motorway; 1522: Police; 1620: Rear end collision; 1476: Safety belt; 6555: Statistics; 9101: Surveillance; 1544: Traffic regulations
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Law; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies; Vehicles and Equipment; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor; I91: Vehicle Design and Safety;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00159765
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Federal Institute of Road Research, Germany
• Report/Paper Numbers: Analytic
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 27 1977 12:00AM