Seat belts simply save lives

Wearing a seat belt is likely one of the most common-sense safety first actions a person can do. Anywhere in a car, including the backseats. But not all people seem to be conscious of this fact.

A read through the Safely Home Survey: Road User Focus Groups Report of 2019/20 reveals some interesting, actually alarming, insights around attitudes to seat belts.

But first, it emerged that only 14% of passengers use seatbelts regularly, while only 28% of kids are buckled up in private cars.

One would have to ask why people are seatbelt-hesitant. One reason is the belief that backseat passengers are protected by the front seats. The truth is, backseat passengers become projectiles in a crash, often killing others as a result.

Some believe airbags replace seat belts. They don’t, they are designed to work with belts.

There is also an irrational fear that a seat belt will trap a person in the car, when in fact inside the car is statistically the safest place to be in a crash.

It’s important that we question our long-held beliefs, check them against the science and the stats, before passing them on to our children.

[email protected]