Buckle Up

SAFETY

NEW RESEARCH shows that unbelted backseat car passengers are not only at risk of grave or fatal injuries in head-on collisions, but they put belted drivers at similar risk. Drivers' injuries were caused by the backseat passengers smashing into the front seat at great force. The State University of New York, Buffalo, study validated the results of the researchers' previous work, which analyzed the data of 300,000 fatal crashes. "Based on our results, state laws should mandate that everyone in the vehicle must wear a safety belt, no matter where they sit," says James Mayrose, a mechanical and aerospace engineer and the lead researcher. Most states still do not require use of safety belts in backseats. Another Buffalo study found that the middle back seat is the safest. It studied fatal wrecks involving backseat passengers from between 2000 and 2003. Belted backseat passengers were 59 to 86 percent more likely to survive wrecks than front-seat occupants, and those sitting in the middle seat were 25 percent more likely to survive than others riding in the back.

Copyright AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR ENGINEERING EDUCATION Mar 2007
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