Why You Should Wear Your Seat Belt - Literature review Example

Why you should wear your seat belt This document focuses on the significance of Set belts while driving as a measure to prevent injuries and death in car accidents. Seat belts are one of the most essential safety devices that should be used by everyone to ensure their own safety and prevent injuries. In addition, this document highlights the role of media to spread awareness to use seat belt while driving. There is several safety measures advice by the traffic authorities to prevent physical injuries and accidents. There are various effective safety traffic measures and devices suggested to the drives to adopt in order to ensure their safety (Alic, Miklos and Imre). Seat belts are one of the most effective traffic safety measures to prevent death and injuries. This safety features is installed and available in all types of vehicles that are available in the market. However, its use is limited in societies, which are aware of its merits. Highway authorizes emphasize the use of seat belts during driving perhaps there are people who still restrain the use of seat belts while driving. (Alma and Einav 828). Traffic authorizes and experts suggest that the use of the seat belts while driving decrease the risk of death and injuries (Alic, Miklos and Imre 137). This document highlights the importance of the usage of seat belts in driving. The recent studies show that the increased use of seat belts has decreased the death and injuries (Vaino and Parenteau 427). Furthermore, this document illustrates various studies in order to develop a coherent understanding importance of seat belt during driving. Which safety device is safer? Seat belt or Air Bags According to the study of Alic, Miklos and Imre (2011), the use of the seat belt and air bags are considered to be one of the most important safety devices, but studies show that the seat belts are more effective safety devices than air bags. This is because of the reason that the seat belts are 45 percent effective to prevent fatal injuries and 67 percent serious injuries (Alic, Miklos and Imre 139). Therefore, the use of seat belts shall be made essential. The increased use of safety devices have saved live of thousands of people (Alic, Miklos and Imre 139). According to the National Highway Statistic, it has been observed that the use of the seat belts save about 12,713 people’s lives. Seat Belts best protection device According to the study of American College of Emergency Physician, seat belts are considered to be the best protection devices in the driving against the ejection accidents (Alic, Miklos and Imre 137). The ejection is considered to be the worst accident event that might happen, as about 75 percent of people in the vehicle loose their lives. The use of the seat belts can save the live of 5 percent people, where as the 44 percent people who do not use the seat belts are killed (Alic, Miklos and Imre 137). This reflects that the use of the seat belts can also assess people to save life of people from most dangerous accidents. Seat belts, saving lives According to study of 1960’s, show that the use of the seat belts saves lives. It has been observed that seat belts reduce the probabilities of mortality of driver passengers to about 40 to 50 percent, whereas 25 percent of the passengers of the rear seats (Alma and Einav 832). The use of the seat belts also reduces the intensity of injuries. The study illustrates that passengers with restrained seat belts reduce limb injuries, whereas the fatal injuries are due to heat and other multiple injuries (Alma and Einav 829). Seat belt measure to control injuries and death According to the research of Vaino and Parenteau (2009), the use of the seat belts during driving reduce injuries and death to about 50 percent; this shows that seat belts can be an effective safety devices (Vaino and Parenteau 830). It does not only prevent death rate, whereas it reduces the severity of injury (Vaino and Parenteau 829). It is predicted that the use of the seat belts can save the lives of 21,000 people and 15,200 deaths (Vaino and Parenteau 830). It has been emphasized on the seat belts shall be made mandatory in order to ensure the safety of the drivers. Younger driver more unsafe According to Alic, Miklos and Imre (2011), young people ignore the use of seat belts during driving. The research shows that this is one reason that the death rate among people between age of 5-34 years in the United States (Alic, Miklos and Imre 136). This is due to reason that the adult injuries and death rate are higher than the other people. In addition, adult people do not prefer using seat belts during driving, due to which the number of injuries and death rate of adults are higher (Alic, Miklos and Imre 137). Media’s contribution to spread awareness about Road Safety devices According to the information, it has been observed that the media and social media advertisement has played a major contribution to spread the awareness of the use of seat belts. According to the study of Ralston, Hatfield and Soames (2010), law, education, and technology have increased use of seat belts to about 11 percent during 1982 and about 85 percent in 2013. This has played a significant role to save the lives of thousands of people. However, still 1 in the 7 people do not buckle up, therefore it is essential to educate people to help them understand the importance of the use of seat belts (Ralston, Hatfield and Soames 3). Monitoring and Regulating Road Safety According to Ogundele (2013), it is essential for the system and state authorizes to ensure use of seat belts while driving, the author stress that the unsafe environment is the main cause for injuries and accidents (Ogundele 18). In order to overcome the problem, responsible authorizes should take appropriate measures to control and ensure mandatory implementation of the seat belt policies. The number of accidents is also due to uneven infrastructure, inspection, monitoring, and controlling schemes (Ogundele 19). It is stated that the inspection of the vehicles shall be a mandatory step for the officials, therefore time to time inspection of the performance of the vehicles should be done, in order to sustain the safety (Centre of Accident Research and Road Saftey 5). It is noted that in the case of a serious accident of ejection a person without the seat belt move at the same speed at which the vehicle collapse, whereas people with the probability for people with the seat belts do not move (Alma and Einav 831). In such cases, passengers with the seat belts have relatively less probability for injury or death. Impacts of seat belts on fatality and injuries The study of Vanio and Parenteau (2009) highlights that an increase in the use of the seat belts have resulted in the decline in the fatality and injuries rates in road accident (Vaino and Parenteau 427). The report illustrates no belt use in the driving is 2.18 greater than the police with no injury, whereas 1.08 greater fatality rates (Centre of Accident Research and Road Saftey 1). Furthermore, the report highlights that injuries of unrestrained passengers are 46.9 percent severe than people who are belted. Based on the discussion provided in this paper, it can be concluded that the use of the safety measure while driving is one of the essential step that every individual shall consider. From the information and data, it shall be noted that the seat belts are considered to be the safest devices (Ralston, Hatfield and Soames) 2. The use of the seat belts does not only reduce the rate of fatalities, but it also reduces the risks of severe injuries. In addition, it shall be noted that the seat belts in the severe accident reduces the risk of death to about 46 percent (Alma and Einav 828). Number of young people refrain fastens their seat belts while driving, due to which the percentage of affected people from the road accidents are young people. In order to ensure the safety of these people, media, advertisement and traffic authorities should promote sustainable measure to spread awareness and ensure the use of seat belts during driving. Works Cited Alic, Carmen Inge, Christina Carmen Miklos and Zsolt Miklos Imre. “Finite Element Analysis of a Seat Belt Device.” The Journal of Engineering Hunedoara 9.4 (2011): 135-140. Print. Alma, Cohen and Liran Einav. “The effects of mandatory seat belt laws on driving behavior and traffic fatalities.” Review of Economics and Statistics (2003): 828-843. Print. Centre of Accident Research and Road Saftey. State of the Road: Seat belts. Safety. Queensland: Centre of Acccident Research and Road Saftey, 2011. Print. Ogundele, Olumuyiwa Joshua. “The Impact of Seat-Belts in Limiting the Severity of Injuries in Patients presenting to a University Hospital in the Developing World.” Nigerian Medical Journal 54.1 (2013): 17-21. Print. Ralston, Fernandes, Julie Hatfield and R. F. Soames. “A systematic investigation of the differential predictors for speeding, drink-driving, driving while fatigued, and not wearing a seat belt, among young drivers.” Traffic psychology and behaviour 13.3 (2010): 2-5. Print. Vaino, David C and Chantral S Parenteau. “Belt Use: Comparison of NASS-CD and Police Crash Report.” Traffic Injury Prevention 10.5 (2009): 427-435. Print. Read More