Seat belt
[1] More recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has summarized these data by stating "seat belts reduce serious crash-related injuries and deaths by about half.
[10] To reduce the high level of injuries Shelden was seeing, he proposed, in late 1955, retractable seat belts, recessed steering wheels, reinforced roofs, roll bars, automatic door locks, and passive restraints such as air bags be made mandatory.
[15] The three-point seat belt was developed to its modern form by Swedish inventor Nils Bohlin for Volvo, which introduced it in 1959 as standard equipment.
The first compulsory seat belt law was put in place in 1970, in the state of Victoria, Australia, requiring their use by drivers and front-seat passengers.
[20][21] Modern seatbelt weaves also feature snag-proof selvedges reinforced with strong polyester threads to prevent the wear and tear, while remaining flexible.
Certain materials such as nylons may become permanently affixed or melted onto the fabric as a result of heat produced by friction, whereas fiber-based clothing leaves no remains on modern webbing.
A simple strap was first used March 12, 1910, by pilot Benjamin Foulois,[23][24][25] a pioneering aviator with the Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps, so he might remain at the controls during turbulence.
The Irvin Air Chute Company made the seat belt for use by professional race car driver Barney Oldfield when his team decided the daredevil should have a "safety harness" for the 1923 Indianapolis 500.
Ralph Nader cited Ryan's work in Unsafe at Any Speed and, following hearings led by Senator Abraham Ribicoff, President Lyndon Johnson signed two bills in 1966 requiring safety belts in all passenger vehicles starting in 1968.
The lift-lever style of commercial aircraft buckles allows for the seatbelt to be easily clasped and unclasped, accessible quickly in case of an emergency where a passenger must evacuate, and fulfills the minimum safety requirements provided by the FAA while remaining low-cost to produce.
Shoulder harnesses of this separate or semi-separate type were installed in conjunction with lap belts in the outboard front seating positions of many vehicles in the North American market starting at the inception of the shoulder belt requirement of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208 on January 1, 1968.
A study demonstrated that standard automotive three-point restraints fitted with pyrotechnic or electric pretensioners were not able to eliminate all interior passenger compartment head strikes in rollover test conditions.
[50] The electric pretensioners also can operate on a repeated or sustained basis, providing better protection in the event of an extended rollover or a multiple collision accident.
When driver side airbags became mandatory on all passenger vehicles in model year 1995[citation needed], most manufacturers stopped equipping cars with automatic seat belts.
[citation needed] Motorized or door-affixed shoulder belts hinder access to the vehicle, making it difficult to enter and exit—particularly if the occupant is carrying items such as a box or a purse.
Starting in 1971 and ending in 1972, the United States conducted a research project on seat belt effectiveness on a total of 40,000 vehicle occupants using car accident reports collected during that time.
[78] The New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) was put in place by the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 1979.
[84][85] As with adult drivers and passengers, the advent of seat belts was accompanied by calls for their use by child occupants, including legislation requiring such use.
[86] In crashes, small children who wear adult seat belts can suffer "seat-belt syndrome" injuries including severed intestines, ruptured diaphragms, and spinal damage.
[87] One of the authors of this research said, "The early graduation of kids into adult lap and shoulder belts is a leading cause of child-occupant injuries and deaths.
Some cars will intermittently flash the reminder light and sound the chime until the driver (and sometimes the front passenger, if present) fasten their seat belts.
208 (FMVSS 208) was amended by the NHTSA to require a seat belt/starter interlock system to prevent passenger cars from being started with an unbelted front-seat occupant.
[96][97] The interlock systems used logic modules complex enough to require special diagnostic computers, and were not entirely dependable—an override button was provided under the hood of equipped cars, permitting one (but only one) "free" starting attempt each time it was pressed.
In 1974, Congress acted to prohibit NHTSA from requiring or permitting a system that prevents a vehicle from starting or operating with an unbelted occupant, or that gives an audible warning of an unfastened belt for more than 8 seconds after the ignition is turned on.
[101] In 2003, the Transportation Research Board Committee, chaired by two psychologists, reported that "Enhanced SBRs" (ESBRs) could save an additional 1,000 lives a year.
[102] Research by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that Ford's ESBR, which provides an intermittent chime for up to five minutes if the driver is unbelted, sounding for 6 seconds then pausing for 30, increased seat belt use by 5 percentage points.
It is generally accepted that, in comparing like-for-like accidents, a vehicle occupant not wearing a properly fitted seat belt has a significantly and substantially higher chance of death and serious injury.
[115] Some have proposed that the number of deaths was influenced by the development of risk compensation, which says that drivers adjust their behavior in response to the increased sense of personal safety wearing a seat belt provides.
Smeed's law predicts a fall in accident rate with increasing car ownership and has been demonstrated independently of seat belt legislation.
[131] Many civil aviation authorities require a "fasten seat belt" sign in the cabin that can be activated by a pilot during taxiing, takeoff, turbulence, and landing.
