Seat
Belts: Advice and Information
This fact sheet about seat belts gives advice and information
on several issues, you can use the links below to navigate around
the page.
The
Purpose of Seat Belts
Seat belts are designed to retain people in their seats, and so
prevent or reduce injuries suffered in a crash. They ensure that
as little contact is made between the occupant and vehicle interior
as possible and significantly reduce the risk of being thrown
from a vehicle.
On modern vehicles, seat belts are now also designed to work as
the key part of wider injury prevention measures and safety systems,
such as airbags and head restraints, which will not be as effective
in reducing the risk of injury if an occupant is not wearing a
seat belt.
ALWAYS WEAR
A SEAT BELT WHEN TRAVELLING IN THE FRONT, OR THE REAR, OF A VEHICLE
THAT HAS SEAT BELTS FITTED.
ALWAYS MAKE
SURE THAT CHILDREN TRAVEL IN AN APPROPRIATE CHILD RESTRAINT OR
IN A SEAT BELT IF THEY ARE TOO BIG FOR A CHILD RESTRAINT.
Facts
And Figures
Car occupants form 65% of all road casualties. In 2003, 188,342
people were killed or injured while travelling in cars, and of
these, 123,786 (88%) were drivers or front seat passengers.
| |
Driver
|
Front Seat
Passenger
|
Rear Seat
Passenger
|
All Occupants
|
|
Fatal
|
1,169
|
396
|
204
|
1,769
|
|
Serious
|
9,871
|
3,550
|
2,101
|
15,522
|
|
Slight
|
112,746
|
38,198
|
20,107
|
171,051
|
|
All Severities
|
123,786
|
42,144
|
22,412
|
188,342
|
Table
1, which shows the number of car occupant casualties during 2003,
sorted by severity of injury, and seating position. Source, ‘Road
Casualties Great Britain: 2003’, Published by The Stationery
Office.
Do you know that -
Over 90%
of adult front seat passengers and drivers wear seat belts, as
do 66% of adult rear seat passengers.
If wearing rates in the rear were
as high as those in the front, a further 30 adult lives
would be saved each year.
Since the law to wear seat belts
in the front was introduced in 1983, front seat belts are estimated
to have saved 50 thousand lives. They have also
prevented 590 thousand serious casualties
and 1.5 million minor injuries.
50 thousand
lives saved equates to 7 lives saved every day
for the last 20 years.
As many as 15 front seat occupants are killed annually
by the impact of an unbelted rear seat passenger.
The wearing rate for van drivers is currently 63%,
and for their passengers the rate is only 55%.
If the wearing rate in vans matched that for cars then 20
more lives would be saved annually.
Seat belt wearing rates are higher in rural areas (93%)
than in urban areas (89%).
Women (94%) are more conscientious than men (86%)
at wearing a seat belt.
In the back, over 90% of children wear seat belts
or child restraints.
For the youngest children aged 0 to 4 years the wearing rate is
97%.
Despite continued advertising about the dangers of not wearing
a seat belt, a core 10% of Britain’s 28 million
drivers still fail to belt up for every journey.
Ensuring You Use
A Seat Belt Correctly
In order to wear a seat belt safely, the following points should
be adhered to:
- The belt should be worn as tight
as possible, with no slack
- The lap belt should go over
the pelvic region, not the stomach
- The diagonal strap should rest
over the shoulder, not the neck
- Nothing should obstruct the
smooth movement of the belt by trapping it
In most modern vehicles, the height
of the top of the seat belt can be adjusted on the B-pillar. If
you cannot get the seat belt to fit over you correctly, as described
above, you should try adjusting the height.
Damaged
Seat Belts
Seat belts should be regularly checked for damage. Common forms
of damage to the seat belt that will reduce its effectiveness
in an accident, and also lead to the vehicle failing an MOT test,
are:
- Fraying or fluffing around the
edges of the seat belt
- A cut which causes the fabric
to split
- A hole in the seat belt
- Damage to the buckle
In an
accident, the webbing of a seat belt stretches, which absorbs
some of the energy in an impact. This helps prevent any injury
from the contact between the seat belt and occupant. A seat belt
that has restrained an occupant in an accident would be more likely
to cause an occupant injury if it were involved in another accident,
and must always be replaced.
If any forces are applied to a seat belt, which are larger than
would be expected during its usual operational life, it may also
be worth having it checked to see if the webbing of the belt has
been strained.
If in doubt, take your car to a garage to have the belt inspected
by an expert.
Pregnant Occupants
and Seat Belts
 All
pregnant women must wear seat belts by law when travelling in
cars. This applies to both front and back seats and pregnancy
does not in itself automatically provide exemption from the law.
The safest way for pregnant women to wear a seat belt is:
- Place the diagonal strap between
the breasts (over the breastbone) with the strap resting over
the shoulder, not the neck.
- Place the lap belt flat on the
thighs, fitting comfortably beneath the enlarged abdomen, and
over the pelvis not the bump.
- The belt should be worn as tight
as possible.
In this way the forces applied in a sudden impact can be absorbed
by the body's frame.
Pregnant women should not wear 'Lap-only-Belts' as they have been
shown to cause grave injuries to unborn children in the event
of sudden deceleration. Mother and unborn child are both safer
in a collision if a lap and diagonal seat belt is being worn correctly.
Lap
Belts
Although lap belts are not recommended for pregnant women, they
are safe and suitable for other adult passengers. Three-point
seat belts are safer, but wearing a lap belt is far better than
wearing no seat belt at all, because the greatest risk of injury
to car occupants in an accident comes from being thrown about
inside the vehicle or being ejected from it.
The lap belt should go over the pelvis (not the soft stomach area)
and fit as tightly as possible. Most car manufacturers now fit
at least some of their range with a three-point seat belt in the
centre of the rear seat.
Seat Belt Adjustment
Several devices exist which are designed to attach to the seat
belts in order to pull them into a different position or change
the way in which they rest on an occupant.
A common form of seat belt adjuster changes the path of the adult
belt over the shoulder of a younger occupant. RoSPA do not recommend
the use of these devices, as no standards currently exist ensuring
a basic crashworthiness. It is much safer to purchase an appropriate
child restraint, as they are crash tested to a European wide standard.
Other devices, which pad the seat belt, may also degrade its performance
in a crash and put an occupant at greater risk.
Child
Restraints
RoSPA has a website (www.childcarseats.org.uk)
which provides advice on choosing, fitting and using child car
restraints, details of legal requirements for using child restraints
in other countries, links to manufacturers, retailers, and other
organisations that can provide help or advice about child car
restraints and a search facility to find local sources of help
and information in your area.
Child restraints are divided into categories, according to the
weight of the children for which they are suitable. These correspond
broadly to different age groups, but it is the weight of the child
that is most important when deciding what type of child restraint
to use.
An appropriate child restraint is one which:
- Conforms to the United Nations
standard, ECE Regulation 44-03
- Is suitable for the child's
weight and size
- Is correctly fitted according
to the manufacturer's instructions
Retailers
often describe child restraints in terms of 'Stages':
Stage 1 = Groups 0 and 0+
Stage 2 = Group 1
Stage 3 = Group 2
Stage 4 = Group 3
Some child restraints are capable of being converted as the child
grows and, therefore, fit into more than one group or stage.
The main types are:
Rearward-facing Baby Seats
 Group
0 for babies up to 10 kgs (22 lbs) roughly from birth to 6-9 months,
or
Group 0+ for babies up to 13kg (29lbs) roughly from birth to 12-15
months
They can be used in the front or rear of the car, but it is safer
to put them in the rear. DO NOT put them in the front passenger
seat if there is a passenger airbag. Rearward-facing seats provide
greater protection for the baby's head, neck and spine than forward-facing
seats. So, it is best to keep your baby in a rearward-facing seat
for as long as possible.
Only move them to a forward-facing seat once they have exceeded
the maximum weight for the baby seat, or the top of their head
is higher than the top of the seat.
Forward-facing Child
Seat
 Group
1 for children weighing 9-18 kgs (20-40 lbs) roughly from 9 months
- 4 years
They can be used in the front or rear of the car, but it is safer
to put them in the rear, especially if there is a passenger airbag
in the front.
Booster
Seat
 Only
move your child to a booster seat once they have exceeded the
maximum weight for the child seat, or the top of their head is
higher than the top of the seat.
Group 2 for children weighing 15 - 25 kgs (33 - 55 lbs) roughly
4 to 6 years.
They can be used in the front or rear of the car, but it is safer
to put them in the rear, especially if there is a passenger airbag
in the front.
Some Booster seats are designed to be converted into a booster
cushion by detaching the back rest.
Booster Cushion
 Group
3: for children weighing 22 - 36 kgs (48 - 79 lbs) roughly from
6 - 11 years
They can be used in the front or rear of the car, but it is safer
to put them in the rear, especially if there is a passenger airbag
in the front.
Booster seats and booster cushions do not have an integral harness
to hold the child in place. The adult seat belt goes around the
child and the seat. So it is important that the seat belt is correctly
adjusted so that:
- The belt is worn as tight as
possible, with no slack
- The lap belt goes over the pelvic
region, not the stomach
- The diagonal strap should rest
over the shoulder, not the neck
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