Unbelted Riders Can Turn Into Deadly Bullets
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive September 2004:
Unbelted Riders Can Turn Into Deadly Bullets
Unbelted Riders Can Turn Into Deadly Bullets
Hundreds of Americans are killed and thousands injured each year
because unbelted back-seat passengers become human projectiles in
frontal collisions, a study by the University of Buffalo and the
Center for Transportation Injury Research says.
An unbelted passenger seated behind the driver turns into
a "backseat bullet" that increases death risks for the driver and
passenger, Dietrich Jehle, an emergency medicine professor at the
university and a researcher for the study says.
"The odds of death were almost three times higher for the unbelted
passenger and two times higher for the driver under those
circumstances," Jehle said.
The study concludes that more than 800 lives could be saved annually
and 65,000 injuries prevented if 95 percent of rear-seat occupants
used belts.
In analyzing 300,000 fatal crashes from seven years, researchers
found that 33 percent of rear-seat occupants older than 16 and 62
percent younger than 16 were belted.
Crash tests conducted with instrumented dummies at the center's
Buffalo, N.Y., research facility showed that, when a frontal crash
propels an unbelted rear passenger into the driver, the forces on
the driver's head and chest increase four times.
"Our hope is to get all people to wear seat belts in the rear seat,"
Jehle said. "If people start to get a mind-set that the unbelted
person behind me is trying to kill me, they would have a different
perspective."
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says 79 percent
of front-seat occupants buckle up, but the agency does not measure
rear-seat restraint use among all motorists, only in fatal accidents.
NHTSA data from 2002 show that 63 percent of rear-seat passengers
killed in cars were unbelted, versus 47 percent of front-seat
occupants, indicating fewer rear-seat occupants use belts.
NHTSA is pushing states to adopt strong seat-belt laws that cover
all occupants, but Washington is the only one that requires everyone
be belted regardless of age or where they're seated.
Other states have a hodgepodge of rules based on occupant age.
Michigan law requires all drivers and front seat passengers to be
buckled up and children younger than 4 to be in an approved child
safety seat. It also requires passengers 15 and younger to be
buckled up in all seating positions.
Illinois requires that front-seat occupants and all occupants
younger than 17 be restrained. If the driver is younger than 18, all
occupants younger than that must be restrained.
Indiana also requires belts for front-seat occupants, but in other
seats the law applies only to children 12 and younger.
Wisconsin's belt law applies to front seats and rear-seat
positions
that have a shoulder belt. Wisconsin has a secondary law, which
means police can ticket the unbelted only if they are stopped for
another violation.
Twenty-one states, including Michigan, have primary belt laws that
allow police to ticket motorists for not buckling up.
The fines are as low as $10. All states have restraint laws for
children based on their age and size.
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AIADA summary
Hundreds of Americans are killed and thousands injured each year
because unbelted back-seat passengers become human projectiles in
frontal collisions, a study by the University of Buffalo and the
Center for Transportation Injury Research says.
An unbelted passenger seated behind the driver turns into
a "backseat bullet" that increases death risks for the driver and
passenger, Dietrich Jehle, an emergency medicine professor at the
university and a researcher for the study says.
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