by Suzanne Mathews

Created on: June 06, 2010   Last Updated: June 17, 2010

The importance of safety belts or seat belts is to protect the occupant from catastrophic injuries and/or fatalities during an automobile accident. According to a 2006 report by Advocates for Highway Safety, “fifty-five percent of the occupants killed in an automobile accident were not wearing safety belts” (Advocates for Highway Safety, 2008).  The percentage of catastrophic injuries and fatalities has decreased since this 2006 report, mostly due to the enforcement of the

seat belt laws; yet, many occupants continue to ignore the serious ramifications of not wearing a safety belt. In an automobile accident, a safety belt keeps the occupant in their seat, which reduces catastrophic injuries, injuries due to ejections and death. 

During an automobile accident the occupants absorbs the crash forces of the impact. Without a safety belt, the occupants are forced from their seat causing them to strike the interior parts of the vehicle, other occupants within the vehicle, or partially or completely ejected from the vehicle. Striking other occupant within the vehicle can cause life threatening injuries or death to both occupants. Striking the interior parts of the vehicle can cause brain trauma, spinal injuries and even death, such as the case during the tragic accident of Princess Diana. The forced impact from the automobile accident caused her un-belted body to be thrown into the back of the front seat. Using an occupant motion model, Dr. David Renfroe of The Engineering Institute explains during a CNN interview, how the force of the impact is transferred to the body causing Princess Diana's death. Dr. Renfroe further explains her injuries would have been survivable if she had been wearing a safety belt (Renfroe D., 1997).

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), “seat belts are effective in preventing ejections”. Of the fatal crashes reported in 2006, seventy-five percent of the occupants totally ejected from their vehicle died. These percentages are alarming; considering, how simply wearing a safety belt could have prevented the occupants from being ejected from their vehicle. Nevertheless, many risk their lives every day when they fail to wear a safety belt.

Other factors considered when an occupant does not wear a safety belt are the increased medical and insurance costs. Unrestrained occupants who survive a crash are most likely to spend more time in the hospital, specifically, in the intensive

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