2007-01-24 23:29:25 · 26 answers · asked by james s 1 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Safety
not really because you get injured wearing one if your in an accident and if you have an airbag and are involved in a accident the airbag injures you as well but having a seat belt does prevent you from going through the windscreen so it does help in some respects
2007-01-25 11:08:34 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, it's the wrong question to ask, but seat-belts certainly save lives (They have caused a few deaths/injuries also). Like any safety device, seat-belts simply reduce the severity of injury.
I am always amazed by the way people drive headlong into disaster situations, yet the same people would not even think of walking through the middle of street-brawl.
Even relatively small accidents can be quite violent, and at anything above 40mph, an accident WILL result in injuries, and often quite serious ones.
If people only realised just how much technology and testing-time goes into making a racing car relatively safe at high-speed, they would soon realise that the ordinary passenger car is still quite a dangerous place to be in an accident.
Of course, if the road-safety campaigners concentrated their efforts on good-eyesight instead of cameras and "shock horror" poster campaigns, they might achieve something.
An awful lot of drivers are virtually blind; especially at night.
You can wrap them in seat-belts, but that isn't much good if their eyes are wrapped in blindfolds.
2007-01-26 02:29:14 · answer #2 · answered by musonic 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Definitely not.
If your question had been rephrased thus: -
"Has the mandatory wearing of seat belts led to a reduction in fatalities resulting from traffic accidents?"
I would have answered 'Yes'.
People need to wear the seatbelts for them to be effective.
After a head-on collision, my sister ended up with a broken collarbone and fractured wrist because she was wearing her seatbelt. It could easily have been a fatality.
A TV documentary on car safety showed that as each new safety device is fitted, people up the stakes by driving faster or more recklessly because they feel that the car will always protect them.
One safety advisor joked and said, "If there was a great, big spike, here, in the middle of the steering wheel, pointed at their chest, it would be the most dangerous thing in the world but people wouldn't take the risks..."
2007-01-25 23:47:27 · answer #3 · answered by Rob K 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They may even have led to an increase in accidents because some drivers take more risks when they are securely strapped in. BUT - hospital eye and facial injury departments noticed an immediate reduction in serious injuries when seat belts became compulsory in the UK. Within one week of the law being enforced back in the 1980's, one eye dept that I know of noticed a 90% reduction in injuries due to people being thrown through the windscreen
2007-01-27 07:59:10 · answer #4 · answered by David W 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't think seat belts have any effect on the number of traffic accidents. It is possible that seat belts have reduced the number of fatalities/injuries.
I found this answer on-line:
Seat belts are the most effective safety devices in vehicles today, estimated to save 9,500 lives each year. Yet only 68 percent of the motor vehicle occupants are buckled. In 1996, more than 60 percent of the occupants killed in fatal crashes were unrestrained.
Also, look at this state-by-state chart about fatalities:
http://www.nsc.org/partners/adultfatal.htm
2007-01-25 05:16:00 · answer #5 · answered by skh1972 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A reduction in injuries possibly but not accidents. The belt doesn't improve a drivers luck or ability.
2007-01-24 23:43:40 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, seatbelts definitely can reduce accidents and their severity. By keeping the driver upright in the driving position seatbelts allow the driver more time to recover control after an accident begins. You can't do much for yourself or your passengers once you've been tossed out of your seat.
2007-01-25 08:26:30 · answer #7 · answered by Steve71 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, but they've led to a reduction in fatalities from traffic accidents.
2007-01-24 23:33:20 · answer #8 · answered by They call me ... Trixie. 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Seat belts wont prevent or reduce accidents, proper driving and obeying speeding laws will. Seatbelts are supposed to reduce fatalities (for those that are smart enough to wear them ofcourse).
2007-01-26 00:28:22 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
yes. definitely. because buckle up give your body more time to collide with the dashboard or stearing. these will reduce the impulse (the force acting within short time) on your body. these can be known by application of physics findings. on this case, it is force, momentum and impluse theory are applied.
the seat belts are on of the reduction in the collision impulse.
others are air bags, crumple zone of bumper and soft plastics dash boards.
2007-01-28 21:26:11 · answer #10 · answered by lutfi 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋