They are considered as the most effective safety system in saving lives and reducing serious injuries in traffic crashes.
The objective of safety belts is to reduce the injuries in traffic crashes, they must save approximately 9,500 lives each year, but just 68 percent of passengers in the vehicles are buckled. The 60 percent of the people that were killed in fatal crashes didn’t wear seat belts.
The seat belts have a mechanism that prevents the passenger was struck by the harsh elements inside or were thrown out of the vehicle. It applies most of the collision forces across the chest and pelvis, which are better to withstand collision forces.
The belt should be worn as close as possible to the body, flat and free of knots or kinks, not loosely or placing the shoulder belt under the arm or behind your back instead of across the chest. Wear the lap belt across the hips, not across the stomach, if you wear it across the stomach, it will allow the collision forces to apply the force to the soft tissue of the body, increasing the chance of injury.
In the case of pregnant women, wear both a lap and shoulder belt, sitting as upright as possible. The lap belt should be worn low so it pulls downward on the pelvic bones and not directly against the abdomen. The best way to protect an unborn child is to protect the mother.
- You should insist that your passengers always wear seat belt otherwise one of the non-restrained passengers can seriously injure others in the vehicle. Always wear your seat belt
- Seat belts prevent internal injuries by spreading the force of a collision across the chest and pelvis, two of the human body’s strongest areas. For a good distribution of the force, the lap belt should be positioned across the hips, and the diagonal belt across the chest.
- You should wear both belts, if not you won’t protect yourself. Wearing only the lap belt doesn’t protect you from being thrown forward or out of the vehicle. Use always the lap belt without it you would be thrown under the diagonal belt and into the dashboard or steering wheel.
- Wear the seat belt always tight to your body, don’t wear it loosely if not it would be the same as being without it.
- Your seat belt must be in good condition, they must operate correctly if not should return your car to a dealership or qualified repair shop for making the seat belts repair.
- If your car has belts without a three-point harness, you should upgrade them, they are available for many brands of vehicles and models.
Things to remember:
- Wear the seat belt properly, use both belts. Do not wear them loosely.
- Seat belts must work correctly.
- Always wear seat belts.
- If you don’t wear the seat belts or don’t wear them correctly, the airbags won’t benefit you because you won’t be in the right position for the airbags to protect you, and they won’t protect you from a roll-over or side-impact collision.
- The seat belts will keep you inside the car during a crash, avoiding throw you onto the roadway.
- And remember the objective of safety belts is to minimize injuries in a collision, preventing the passenger were struck by the harsh elements inside or against others in the vehicle and avoiding the passenger were thrown out of the vehicle.