Seat belt interaction with a far-side occupant's shoulder and thorax is critical to governing excursion towards the struck-side of the vehicle in side impact. In this study, occupant-to-belt interaction was simulated using a modified MADYMO human model and finite element belts. Quasi-static tests with volunteers and dynamic sled tests with PMHS and WorldSID were used for model validation and co...

Microphones integrated on a seat belt are an interesting alternative to conventional sensor positions used for handsfree telephony or speech dialog systems in automobile environments. In the setup presented in this contribution, the seat belt consists of three microphones which usually lay around the shoulder and chest of a sitting passenger. The main benefit of belt microphones is the small di...

The UK Co-operative Crash Injury Study currently includes data on 205 seat belted drivers from frontal impacts in which an air bag deployed; of these, 142 suffered some degree of injury. To detect the influence of frontal air bags, the distribution of injury over the body regions of these drivers was compared to that of a much larger group from vehicles without air bags. The injured drivers fro...

OBJECTIVE To increase seat belt restraint use in Guangzhou City, People's Republic of China. DESIGN Comparison group pre-test, post-test design. SETTING Guangzhou City. INTERVENTIONS Interventions to increase the prevalence of seat belt use in high-income countries (enhanced training and enforcement practices along with raising of public awareness) were adapted and implemented in Guangzho...

This study investigates the Peltzman effects in adopting mandatory seat belt laws in the US. According to the Peltzman offsetting effect theory, seat belt laws make drivers feel more secure and drive more aggressively, which could cause additional crashes and fatalities. A set of panel data containing 50 US states and the District of Columbia for the years from 1983 to 1997 are analyzed using s...

OBJECTIVE Belt-positioning booster seats have been shown to reduce injury risk among child passengers aged 4 to 8 in motor vehicle crashes. To encourage the use of booster seats, many states have enacted laws that require the use of either a child restraint with internal harness or a belt-positioning booster seat, but the specific age range covered by the laws varies by state. Previous studies ...

The aim of this study was to determine the potential benefits of retrofitting a seat belt reminder device to passenger vehicles in the Australian fleet. The analysis was restricted to vehicles up to ten years of age at the time of retrofitting which were assumed to have at least a driver airbag fitted. While seat belt wearing rates have been observed at around 95% in the front seat, non–wearing...

The purpose of this study was to explore the epidemiological features of common unintentional injury-related behaviours and to identify possible factors that lead to these unsafe behaviours among adolescents. A representative sample of 10,806 students was recruited from 77 schools by using the two-stage stratified random sampling method. All participants took a self-administered questionnaires ...

Two hundred and forty-six patients with ocular perforation were treated at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, between 1 February 1981 and 31 January 1985. Road traffic accidents were responsible for 63 injuries, all of which affected front seat occupants, and 45 occurred before implementation of the seat belt law on 1 February 1983. Following legislation there was a 60% reduction in ocular i...

We report a retrospective study of 378 perforating eye injuries presenting between August 1981 and July 1984 to four major teaching hospitals. The aetiological groups have been analysed together and by region, and preventive measures for some groups are discussed. We have confirmed the effectiveness of seat belt legislation in reducing serious eye injury.