Wearing Seatbelt Correctly

Ronald Porep, Republished from SafetyIssues.com Issue 25

Volume 4 Issue 43

June 2005
It is official! Not using your seat belt correctly can be fatal. That is the ruling in the death of an Illinois passenger.  An Illinois coroner's jury ruled William Arthur Bailey, 67, of Holland, Missouri, died in a car accident because he wore his seat belt wrong.

The one-woman, five-man jury ruled Bailey died from internal injuries he suffered because Bailey was wearing his shoulder belt under his arm. "It's a case where everyone in the accident had their seat belts on.

“Everyone else was basically able to walk away from the accident but he was wearing his shoulder belt across his chest,” describes Williamson County Coroner Mike Burke, adding that the force of the crash caused the shoulder belt to fracture Bailey's ribs. The fractured ribs punctured several internal organs which led to Bailey's death.

“I've had a lot of people tell me they do this and it's a prime example of why you shouldn't,” laments Burke. How should you wear your seat belt?
  • Always wear lap and shoulder belt.
  • Children 12 years old and less belong in the back seat, never in the front.
  • Children under 20 pounds and 1 year old or less must be in rear-facing child seats. Know how to put a child seat in your car. If you do not know, ask an expert such as a firefighter or a police officer
  • Children between 20 and 40 pound and over a year old should be in forward facing child seats. Again, if in doubt or just to be sure, ask an expert how to properly use such seats in your vehicle
  • Never place the shoulder belt under your arm or behind your back. Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death to children in America. Each year in the U.S., approximately 1,800 children ages 14 and under are killed as occupants in motor vehicles and more than 280,000 are injured.

Safety belts, air bags and proper child safety seats, when used consistently and correctly, can significantly reduce the rate of injury in a crash. Totally, seat belts save an estimated 9,500 lives in America each year.

Buckle up right and stay alive!

Email this article to a friend

Email a friend a link to our web site
Back to Safety Issues...

Have you seen a safety device you think our readers should know about?
Does your company make or sell a safety device you would like to see featured in this column?
If so, please e-mail the information about the device to Safety Issues.
The purpose of this column is to make your life safer with the use of the latest technology.
Neither Safety Issues nor its affiliated companies are responsible for any opinions expressed in this column.
Thank you for reading this column.

  © 2008 SafetyIssues.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.