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Occupant Restraints
The use of occupant restraints is a key feature in reducing the severity of injury in road crashes. Not using a restraint greatly increases the likelihood of being severely injured or killed if you are involved in a crash. You are 3 times more likely to be killed in a crash if you are not wearing a seatbelt.
95% of motor vehicle occupants in NSW wear seatbelts. However in 1998, 106 vehicle occupants who died in road crashes were not wearing seatbelts.
In NSW, legislation supports the wearing of seatbelts by drivers and passengers of all vehicles.
How do restraints work?
Seatbelts and child restraints prevent death and injury by:
- Increasing the amount of time it takes to stop
in a crash. Without a seatbelt, driver and
passengers stop very quickly in a crash when they collide
with the hard interior of the car or with something outside
the vehicle such as the road. A seatbelt stops the impact
being so severe because it stretches during the process of
stopping and supports the body.
- Spreading the forces of the impact across a larger proportion of the body. In a crash, a seatbelt spreads the forces over the strong bones of the hips and chest. Without a seatbelt, the forces are concentrated on the part of the body that hits the vehicle or surface first. The body part that usually hits first is the head.
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