Seating Safety in Automobiles
I just got back from having to take a defensive driver's education review course. Yours truly was caught in a speedtrap and got a moving violation, hence the review class.
I don't know the specifics of Florida law as I attended the class for our state, Illinois, but here are some pertinent points that cross all jurisidictions because they are safety related.
1. Just placing seatbelts on passengers sitting in the front will not protect them if the passengers in the back are not seat-belted. In a head-on collision the passengers in the unbelted back seats become virtual projectiles shooting forward. The backseat passengers will smash against the back of the front seats, possibly killing seat-belted front seat passengers. A 15 pound infant that's not restrained will feel like a 300 pound projectile in a 70 mile and hour collision. Had Princess Diane been seat-belted research and computer animations showed she could have walked away from her car crash; as it was the only seat-belted person in that four occupant car did walk away; his only injury was the one sustained when Diane, sitting directly behind him, lurched forward and hit the seat-belted passenger in the front.
2. In the case of a broadside collision, where the impacting car hits the side of the targeted car, no seat-belt or front dash airbags will help. In this case, you hope that if the car has car door airbags, that they will work and blunt some of the impact damage. Here again, cross your fingers and hope for the best. In a scenario like this, throw everything at the oncoming car, even the kitchen sink, and hope for the best.
3. Prior to the 1960's cars were built for survival in a crash. The safety of occupants was a secondary consideration. After the 1960's, post Ralph Nader era, car manufacturers made cars to protect passengers. Now when cars crash, they crumple, they fold up, they become misshapened, all the while protecting their passengers. Cars are now designed for passenger protection, so even a 20 mile an hour head-on collision will result in a toss-away car. Car owners are of the mistaken belief that car manufacturers design throw-away cars, but this is not the case.
4. Over the last ten years, the US fatality rate for car accidents have dropped from an annual 52,000 deaths to an average of 40,000 deaths while the number of car accidents have stabilized at basically unchaged 6,000,000 per year. FYI the number of cars on the road in the US over the past ten years increased 40% while the numbers of highways and roads built in the same period increased only 1%; yes, this is why you see so many traffic jams, etc., etc.
5. Lap belts were discovered early on to not necessarily save people, but caused different types of injury. Lap belts, to be used properly, must be placed on the lap and NOT over the stomach and lower torso. The portion of modern seat-belts that really protect passengers are the ones that go across the chest and serve to prevent passengers from lurching forward in a car crash.
Yes, I did learn something and I'm glad I did.
