IMPORTANCE OF SEAT BELT TO VEHICLE DRIVERS AND PASSENGERS

The driver or passenger of a private motor car, tanker, taxi, pick-up, luxury buses etc has only the protection guaranteed by the driver’s strict observation of monitoring rules. Most important is the use of seat belt; otherwise every moment at the wheel is a moment of danger both to the driver and others.
Seat belt is a safety device that protects a driver or passenger from coming in contact with steering in case of accident. The most dramatic effects have followed the use of device and child restrains in cars: Use of seat belts reduces the risk of death or serious injury by 45 per cent. Publicity has played a major role in increasing wearing rates, but full effect needs to be backed by legislation. Legislation for compulsory wearing was first introduced in the state of Victoria in Australia in 1971. Today, all major developed and developing countries of the world have laws enforcing the wearing of this device, with reported levels of compliance of over 90 per cent in some countries, notably for front seat passengers in the United Kingdom.
There are various types of seat belt, based on their composition of operation and uses and the manufacturer. They include, seat belts, shoulder belts, lap belts, front seat belts, lap belt to-floor pan and shoulder belt-to roof pan. The seat belts and shoulder belt of various types have been used in passenger cars for several years, the lap belt usually have an automatic locking retractor, while the shoulder belt have an internal locking retractor that locks on when the vehicle stops abruptly.
The importance of seat belt is most appreciated during collision. When a force is applied to a vehicle at some exterior point, this force will always result in corresponding vehicle acceleration. The vehicle acceleration is proportional to the collision force. Thus the larger the force, the larger the acceleration. For an occupant to remain in the vehicle after collision, he must also experience a force to accelerate him to the vehicle’s new post collision velocity. Reducing the impacts of vehicle acceleration on the occupants is basically what seat belts are designed to do.