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How We Know Safety Belts Reduce Injury and Fatality Risks
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English
Abstract
Although the last few decades have produced considerable technical literature on safety belts, the question of whether they really work continues to be a recurrent issue of public interest. For example, a number of Canada's mandatory belt wearing laws were challenged in 1992, based on an unpublished study claiming that belt-wearing caused more harm than it prevented. The present paper summarizes the technical evidence for the effectiveness of safety belts, and of laws requiring their use. It is hoped that this short paper, by synthesizing and summarizing currently available information, will be a useful document to have available when future challenges arise. The evidence regarding belts is discussed under the following three broad headings:
- 1.Impact biomechanics -- the mechanical basis of injury causation.
- 2.The observed effect of safety belts, given that a crash has occurred.
- 3.Changes in casualties after the passage of mandatory wearing laws.
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Authors
Citation
Evans, L., "How We Know Safety Belts Reduce Injury and Fatality Risks," SAE Technical Paper 950241, 1995, https://doi.org/10.4271/950241.Also In
Issues in Automotive Safety Technology: Offset Frontal Crashes, Airbags, and Belt Restraint Effectiveness
Number: SP-1072; Published: 1995-02-01
Number: SP-1072; Published: 1995-02-01
References
- Traffic Safety and the Driver Evans Leonard Van Nostrand Reinhold New York 1991
- The Journal of Trauma 27 7 July 1987
- The effectiveness of safety belts in preventing fatalities Evans Leonard Accident Analysis and Prevention 18 229 241 1986
- Safety belt effectiveness in preventing driver fatalities versus a number of vehicular, accident, roadway and environmental factors Evans Leonard Frick Michael C. Journal of Safety Research 17 143 154 1986
- Journal of the Royal Statistical Society The effects of seat belt legislation on British road casualties: a case study in structural time series modeling Harvey A.C. Professor Durbin J. Professor 1986
- The medical effects of seat belt legislation in the United Kingdom Rutherford W.H. Greenfield T. Hayes M. Nelson J.K. 1985
- Highway Safety -- Safety Belt Use Laws Save Lives and Reduce Costs to Society United States General Accounting Office May 1992