Seat belts: Benefits outweigh excuses

MSgt. Phillip A. Brown
AIA Director of Safety
Kelly Air Force Base, Texas

For most people, buckling the seat belt when they get in a vehicle is automatic. One may even call it second nature, implying a life long habit.

Occupant restraint systems such as seat belts have come a long way since their inception. Unfortunately, bad habits are hard to break and many operators and passengers have not yet developed valued skills essential to survival in the traffic jungle.

• In 1968, Federal law required manufacturers to install seat belts in passenger cars and light trucks. During those 30 years, seat belt usage has been enhanced and promoted through redesign, awareness campaigns, and enforcement. In addition to lap and shoulder harness, supplemental systems such as air bags, head restraints, collapsible steering, and recessed knobs were added to help minimize injuries.
  
• Child passenger safety week, recognized during the second week of February, and the National Buckle Up America Week, recognized the week before Memorial Day weekend, highlight awareness initiatives.
  
• As of December 1997, 49 states and the District of Columbia had mandatory seat belt use laws in effect. The common thread has always been occupant comfort and survivability effectiveness. When seat belts are properly worn, occupants may walk away uninjured or minimally injured from head-on collisions, rollovers, high-speed panic stops, etc. When not worn, in the same type scenarios, the results are tragic. This message is not new, but for many folks, the benefits of wearing seat belts still have not registered.
  
• During a crash, the fabric or webbing of the belt stretches slightly, dissipates the energy, and extends the time that the deceleration forces are experienced by the occupant. This allows the occupant to “ride down” the crash. The lap belt holds the occupant in the vehicle while the shoulder harness provides restraint for the upper chest and shoulders. In newer vehicles, air bags supplement the seat belts by cushioning the front seat occupants. Experts have found it is usually the second collision that injures and kills people. When one car hits another car or object, this is the first collision. The second collision occurs when unbelted occupants are thrown into or around the car’s interior or thrown from the vehicle. If an occupant is seat belted, there is no second collision.
  
• The average observed seat belt use rate in states with primary enforcement laws was less than 80 percent, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. European industrial nations boast 85 percent usage rates. NHTSA data also show that in 1997, 32,213 occupants of passenger vehicles were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes. If all passenger vehicle occupants wore safety belts, 20,351 lives could have been saved in 1997.
  
• Research has found that lap and shoulder safety belts, when used, reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger car occupants by 45 percent, and the risk of moderate-to-critical injury by 50 percent. For light truck occupants, safety belts reduce the risk of fatal injury by 60 percent and moderate-to-critical injury by 65 percent.
  
• Among passenger vehicle occupants, safety belts saved an estimated 10,750 lives and air bags an estimated 842 lives in 1997. As our streets and highways become more congested, we cannot afford to be complacent or unprotected.

Accidents will continue, that’s for certain, but securing our seat belts every time we operate our vehicles is the best insurance we have for surviving an accident.

The perfect restraint system may be designed in the future. Until then, we must continue to improve on the use rate. We can make a significant difference.

Nationwide surveys show that the best seat belt use rate is 79 percent -- one-hundred percent seat-belt usage is an achievable goal.

The information provided may help you make buckling up a life-long habit.