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Fasten up

Seat belts secure our safety. But how many bother to use them?

Photo: Vijaya Bhaskar

SAFETY MATTERS Seat belts can make the difference between life and death

When late Lee Jong-Wook, former Director General of the World Health Organisation said, “Road safety is no accident,” he probably had the millions of road users in India in mind.

Case histories abound of lives saved thanks to the seat belt. Recounting the story of a lucky survivor who escaped unhurt thanks to his seatbelt, Dr. S. Sivamurugan, Orthopaedic Surgeon, says, “Rohit is a successful business executive in his early thirties. Traversing across cities was part of his job description. On that eventful December evening, while trying to negotiate a curve on the highway, his car lost balance, toppled and came crashing to the ground. Rohit escaped with only minor injuries thanks to his seat belt.”

Says Dr. Sivamurugan, “In the event of a car crash, seat belts are intended to keep you in place and reduce injuries by preventing you from hitting hard, interior elements of the vehicle or other passengers and preventing you from being thrown out of the vehicle.”

Explains S. M. Iqbal, president, Rane TRW Steering Systems, “The passengers’ chest and other parts of the body are protected by not allowing movement beyond the specified level as per standards.

Many times people are reluctant to wear the seat belt because they feel their movement restricted. This is a wrong notion. The seat belt design allows normal movement but restrains the occupant from moving to an unsafe position.”

According to Newton’s first law, an object in motion continues in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. If a moving car were to abruptly stop and the seat belts were not being worn, then the passengers in motion would continue to be in motion and the passengers would most likely be propelled from the car and hurled into the air.

“People imagine that they need to wear seat belts only for long distance travel. This is a grave blunder as head on collisions even on local trips can cause serious physical injuries to the passengers,” says Dr. Sivamurugan.

Also remember that the best place to be in an accident is your car, rather than being airborne.

And if you need to get out in case of a fire you are better off if you haven’t been knocked unconscious in your car. As for airbags, they increase the effectiveness of a seat belt by 40 per cent. But they were never meant to be a substitute. So buckle up that seat belt as a matter of habit.

It takes seconds but remember it secures your safety on the roads like nothing else can.

SUDHA UMASHANKER

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