Evaluation of Seatbelt and Airbag Effectiveness in Reducing Severe and Fatal Injuries in the UAE

Seatbelt and airbag are included in most of the vehicles as safety devices to reduce the severity of injury and costs of motor vehicle crashes. The aim of this paper is to study the effectiveness of these two restraints in the UAE based on comparing the observed injuries and fatalities for occupants. This will help identifying most life threating combinations and as such forming policies to reduce injury severity. Detailed crash data analysis was used to assess the seatbelt effectiveness with the two airbag conditions of deployed or not deployed. The seatbelt usage rate and severity of crashes are presented along with Abbreviated Injury Scale and Injury Severity Score for drivers. Chisquare test and odd ratio were used in analysis. The frequencies of severe to fatal injuries are highest in case of seatbelt is not used and airbag is deployed. This study contributed to the injury analysis of various body parts for the four combinations of seatbelt use and airbag deployment. The study concluded that the seatbelt use may result in lesser likelihood of head injuries in case of airbag deployment. It may also result in lesser likelihood of chest injuries whether the airbag is deployed or not.