Advances in safety over the years have made it much easier to ride in a car without fear of serious damage in the event of a crash. However, even the most modern safety technology cannot account for every potential damage.
But it is important to understand the difference that properly applying these safety mechanisms can be when it comes to serving a driver’s health. For example, how can seat belts actually minimize the damage of a crash?
Seat belts and the decline of severe injury
The National Library of Medicine shows what regions of the body a seat belt has the largest impacts on. In specific, the study examines claims that seat belts can actually create more injury in certain cases, such as sprains or even breaks.
However, the study also concluded that seat belts have a significant impact on the decline of more severe injuries. This includes:
- Injuries to the head, face and neck (29.3 percent for non-seat belt and 16.6 percent with seat belt)
- Traumatic brain injury (10.4 percent with no seat belt, 4.1 percent with seat belt)
- The severity of spinal injury from the thoracic to coccyx area (22.0 percent with no seat belt, 4.2 percent with seat belt)
Note that damage to the thoracic to coccyx area of the spine occurred at a higher rate when wearing the seat belt, though as shown above, the severity of the damage ended up greatly reduced.
A reduction of medical costs
On a whole, seat belts also decreased the overall cost of medical treatment and concerns in the aftermath of a crash. In other words, seat belts help cut down on the physical risks of crashes while also reducing the overall cost load that comes along with them.