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Increased seat belt-shoulder harness usage by a starter interlock system
Technical Paper
1971-12-0014
Published October 20, 1971 by Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine in United States
Sector:
Language:
English
Abstract
The seat belt-shoulder harness restraint system is recognized as
the most efficient, economical, available means of saving lives and
reducing injuries in automobile accidents. A recent survey
indicates that in accidents involving speeds up to 60 mph not a
single motorist who was wearing seat belt-shoulder harnesses were
killed. A recent report issued by a major auto-maker states that
the seat belts-shoulder system is more effective from both a cost
and life-saving point of view than the air bag or other presently
proposed passive restraint systems.
Despite the over-whelming evidenence and a concentrated public
education program only about one-third of the American motoring
public avails themselves of the protection of lap belts and less
than 5% use shoulder harnesses. Recent government and industry
tests indicate that this usage rate can be dramatically increased
if all cars are equipped with a simple, inexpensive device that
makes it impossible to start the car unless the seat belt and/or
shoulder harnesses in all occupied seats are fastened. Among the
testing personnel that either seldom or never previously used their
belt system, 82% reported approval of this system and favored its
installation in their next car. Recently the NHTSA approved the
starter interlock system as an acceptable alternative to the
passive restraint system until August 1975. This paper will briefly
describe this system, the results of the government and other tests
and delineate the dramatic increase in seat belt-shoulder harness
use with the resultant reduction in deaths and injuries that can be
achieved.