SEAT BELT

SEAT BELT

Have you ever considered how many lives would have been lost on the road if it were not for the use of seat belts? Statistics on road safety measures indicates that 63% of those killed in a car accident is due to not wearing a seat belt. Nakahara et al (pp 29), defines a seat belt as a safety tool that is designed to protect a person from experiencing a harmful movement that may result from a car collision or a sudden unexpected stop. According to Jansen (pp 253), a seat belt is designed to prevent injury to a car occupant. It prevents the occupant from hitting the internal parts of a vehicle and this includes the steering wheel, windshield and the dashboard. This paper will focus on naming the reasons why it is important to wear a seat belt while travelling in a vehicle.

Studies by Ichikawa et al (pp 43), indicate that almost 40,000 people die in road accidents which would have been prevented if the victims had worn a seat belt. This has been observed to be one of the major causes of death to most youths that are 35 years and below. The most precarious thing to watch out when wearing a seat belt is checking on how you wear the belt. Jansen (pp 250), indicate that wearing a seat belt correctly is the only sure way of saving your life from an accident.

A proper worn seat belt goes over the shoulder and it should firmly hold the passenger to the seat. Studies also indicate that when a seat belt is not properly worn by a vehicle occupant, it can cause some internal injuries to the party. The seat belt should firmly hold the body so that incase of a collision, the chances of being thrown out of vehicle is minimal. Some people assume that using airbags might help them incase of an accident but the truth of the matter is, without wearing a seat belt, the airbag won’t help much. The reason is that, when an accident occurs, your body will be moved from the original position and you might miss the benefit of the air bag if your body has not been buckled up in a seat belt (Bedard et al, pp 719).

Use of a seat belt increases the chances of survival in any kind of an accident even if it involves being submerged in water. Statistics have proved that those who wear seat belts incur less harm or even come out unharmed when an accident occurs. It also proves that human beings are 4% likely to die when they are thrown out of a car during an accident. Some people believe in themselves so much, as good and competent drivers, and so they see no need of wearing a seat belt. Others assume that because they are driving a short distance, then there is no need of wearing a belt but they are all proved wrong when an unexpected accident happens. It has been estimated that over 70% of car accidents occur within a short distance from the driver’s residence (approximately 5-6 miles).

Many states today are enforcing laws on wearing seat belts when travelling on both long and short distances. The law does not favor any car occupant and this includes even the little children. Most adults assume that little children are not supposed to be belted because it causes discomfort to the child, but they should be aware that life comes before comfort. They are advised to consider protecting life than comfort (Winston et al, pp 1180). To cater for this problem, most modern belts have been designed to give comfort to the wear until you may wonder if it really will protect you when you get involved in an accident.

From the above observations it can be concluded that use of seat belts is the only way to reduce the number of deaths that are caused by road accidents. This is because they have been designed in a way that it protects you from being thrown out of the vehicle and this means it keeps you inside the vehicle, where the chance of living is great


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