Mandatory seatbelt wearing for front seat passengers and drivers have
saved many lives but all road users are reminded of the vital need to belt up
in the back.
Don’t be killed by a back seat passenger ! With nearly half of all adult
passengers failing to belt up in the back, it is clear that even more lives can
be saved. Everyone should remember the benefits of wearing seatbelts in the
back of a car. Passengers need to be responsible and think not only about the
dangers to themselves but to front-seat passengers and drivers as well. Drivers
should check their passenger’s seat belts as well as their own.
-::- THE AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION (AA)
ON SAFETY BELTS -::-
Buckle-up: seat belts save lives !!
Every year in South Africa around 10 000 people die and another 150 000
people are injured in road traffic accidents. Chilling figures, with the
December holidays upon us. The human loss is traumatic but the economic cost is
huge. The bills for police and emergency services, damage to vehicles and
property, and lost output cost the country an estimated R12 billion per annum.
There has to be a way to reduce this tragic toll of death and suffering.
Indeed, there is. And it only involves ten seconds of thought and action.
"Ten seconds that can save your live" is a simple, direct message.
The message is that four quick, simple, cost-free actions that take 10 seconds
can give save a life. And those actions?
- Always put all children in a proper child seat or harness: In a 50 kilometre an hour crash, a four year old weighing 20 kilograms would hit the first solid object with a force of 400 kilograms. Using a properly fitted child seat or restraint can reduce fatal injuries by up to 75%. So check the child seat in your car. Is it securely fitted? Is it the right size? Are you using it? We know that the kids might complain for a while. But that's better than the horrific alternative
- Always place any loose items in the car boot. When a car comes to a sudden halt in an accident, a map book on the back shelf will hit car occupants with the force of a karate kick. A camera becomes a hand grenade, an umbrella a deadly missile. The family shopping can kill. Put them in the boot.
- Always adjust the seat and the head restraint. It is a head restraint not a head rest and it is there to prevent or reduce whiplash which is the most common form of injury in a car crash. Even at speeds as low as ten kilometres an hour there is real danger of serious injury.
- Always wear your seat belt and see that everyone in the car is wearing theirs. We repeat, always use the seat belts.
The AA emphasises that it is not just
about wearing seat belts in the front of the car. Rear seat belts also save
lives - and yet we estimate that, throughout South Africa, only about 65% of
people use seat belts.
Seat belt use is essential on every
journey, no matter how short or how slow - and it is vital for everyone in a
car. It will save passengers - but it will also save drivers. An unrestrained
passenger in a car involved in a collision can hit others with the force of a
small elephant.
TOP TEN SEATBELT FACTS IN THE UK:
1. 50,000 lives saved equates to 7 lives saved every day for the last 20
years.
2. In a crash at 30mph, if unrestrained, you will be thrown forward with a
force up to 60 times your own bodyweight.
3. In 2001, wearing a seatbelt in the front saved an estimated 2,278 lives.
4. The latest surveys show over 90 per cent of adult front seat passengers
and drivers wore seatbelts and 57 per cent of adult back seat passengers. Women
(94%) are more conscientious than men (86%) at wearing a seatbelt.
5. In the back, over 90% of children wear seatbelts or child restraints.
For the youngest children aged 0 to 4 years the wearing rate is 97%.
6. As many as 15 front seat occupants are killed annually by the impact of
an unbelted rear seat passenger.
7. If the back seat wearing rate could match the front seat rate, 30 more
adults could be saved each year.
8. The wearing rate for van drivers is currently 63% and for their
passengers it is only 55%. If the wearing rate could match that for cars then
20 more lives could be saved annually.
9. It is an offence to not wear a seatbelt.
10. Seatbelt wearing rates are higher in rural areas 93 per cent than in
urban areas 89 per cent.
INTERNATIONAL
SEATBELT STUDY / SEATBELT RESEARCH
Many international studies have indicated the effectiveness of seatbelts
in reducing injury and hospital admissions from motor vehicle crashes. One of
the most comprehensive and informative studies is the Statewide Analysis of
Seatbelt Non-use with Injury and Hospital Admissions, performed in Wisconsin.
The Key Elements of
this Study:
Objectives: To investigate
the association of seatbelt nonuse with injury patterns, injury severity, and
in-patient hospital admission among adults presenting to emergency departments
(EDs) in a statewide, population-based, sample of motor vehicle crashes.
Methods: Using data from
the 2002 Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES) for Wisconsin, 23,920
occupants of motor vehicle crashes, aged 16 years or older, who were treated in
an emergency department, were analyzed.
Results:
Compared with belted occupants presenting to an emergency department, their unbelted counterparts were more likely to be male (56% vs. 40%) and to have used alcohol (17% vs. 4%).- Unbelted occupants were younger (31 years vs. 38 years) and incurred higher emergency department charges ($681 vs. $509) than belted occupants.
- Unbelted occupants have a higher proportion of single-vehicle crashes, such as rollovers (44% vs. 22%), and rural crashes (56% vs. 44%).
- Unbelted occupants comprised 20% of study patients treated in the emergency department and discharged, 44% of patients treated in the emergency department and admitted, and 68% of patients dying in the emergency department.
- Unbelted occupants were more likely to be admitted (odds ratio = 2.6) than belted individuals and were more likely to suffer severe injuries to the head, face, thorax, abdomen, spine, upper and lower extremities
Conclusions:
-
Among patients presenting to an emergency department after a motor vehicle crash, unbelted occupants are more likely to require inpatient admission and to have sustained a severe injury to numerous body regions than are belted occupants.
- Injuries and death from motor vehicle crashes present an enormous challenge to health care systems and create a significant societal and economic burden for a country.
- Increasing seat belt usage and compliance would, therefore, have substantial health and economic consequences.
A word of appreciation to the
following researchers:
Shane Allen, MPH, Shankuan Zhu, MD, PhD, Carley Sauter, BS, Peter Layde, MD,
MSc, Stephen Hargarten, MD, MPH
And The Injury
Research Center , Department of Family and community Medicine , and Department
of Emergency Medicine ,Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
