How do seat belts help

It's been proven time and again, on back roads and superhighways: A seat belt can save a life in a car accident. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA , more than 15, lives are saved each year in the United States because drivers and their passengers were wearing seat belts when they were in accidents.

A seat belt:. Adjusting your seat belt properly is a must: Getting the right fit is as important as wearing it. The strap that goes across your lap should fit snugly over your hips and upper thigh area. Shoulder belts should rest securely across your chest and shoulders between your breasts. Children are not small adults — they need specialized protection in a moving vehicle. Load crash forces on the strongest parts of the body — For older children or adults, these parts are the hips and shoulders.

Spread crash forces over a wide area of the body — This puts less stress on any one part of the body. Lap and shoulder seat belts and forward-facing car seat harnesses spread the crash forces across a large area of the body including the shoulder, chest, and hips. Allow the body to slow down gradually — Vehicles are engineered to crush in a controlled manner. Protect the head, neck, and spinal column — Shoulder belts and car seat harnesses help to keep the head and upper body away from the hard interior surfaces of the vehicle.

Rear facing car seats support the head and neck to avoid stress on the neck and trauma to the head and spinal cord. Importance of Correct Fit The importance of a correct seat belt and car seat fit is often overlooked. The main principles of correct seat belt fit are that: The shoulder belt should cross the shoulder between the neck and arm.

The lap belt must be as low as possible and at least touching the thighs so that crash forces are loaded onto the strong hip bones and not the soft abdominal area. How Seat Belts Work The basic idea of a seat belt is simple. As seat belts have developed over time, there are several different kinds. Submit a Comment Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Support the th Statuto Race! Learn How Here.

See alphabetical listing of states with primary seat belt law, secondary seat belt law, and no seat belt law as of December View and download dozens of motor vehicle datasets and visualizations, including charts and maps, on data.

CDC offers a new interactive calculator to help state decision makers prioritize and select from a suite of 14 effective motor vehicle injury prevention interventions. MV PICCS is designed to calculate the expected number of injuries prevented and lives saved at the state level and the costs of implementation, while taking into account available resources.

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Transportation Safety. Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. Policy Impact: Seat Belts.