What Is Seat Belt: A seat belt, also termed as safety belt, is a safety harness designed to secure the occupant of a vehi-cle against harmful movement that may result from a collision or a sudden stop. Seat belts are in-tended to reduce injuries by stopping the wearer from hitting hard interior elements of the vehicle or other passengers and by preventing the wearer from being thrown from the vehicle.

Who Invented Automobile Seat Belts: Mr. Edward J. Claghorn in 1885 was awarded the first U.S. patent for automobile seat belts, though Volvo was using them since 1849. The 3-Point safety belt was invented by Nils Bohlin for Volvo and patented in 1958.

Different Types Of Seat Belts: Lap: Adjustable strap that goes over the waist. It was used in older cars, now uncommon except in some rear middle seats. Passenger aircraft seats also use lap seat belts.

Sash: Adjustable strap that goes over the shoulder. Used mainly in the 1960s, but of limited bene-fit because it is very easy to slip out of in a collision.

Three-point: Similar to the lap and sash, but one single continuous length of webbing. Until the 1980s three-point belts were commonly available only in the front seats of cars, the back seats were hav-ing only lap belts. Evidence of the potential for lap belts to cause separation of the lumbar vertebrae has led to a requirement that all seats in a vehicle be equipped with 3-point belts.

Five & Six point harnesses: Safer but more restrictive than most other seat belt types. They are typi-cally found in child safety seats and in racing cars.

Six-point harnesses: These belts include an extra belt between the legs, used mainly in racing cars.

Seven-point harnesses: Aerobatic aircraft frequently use a combination harness consisting of a five-point harness with a redundant lap-belt attached to a different part of the airframe.

SEAT BELTS SAVE LIVES February 08

Issue # 801

Monthly Communiqué

Topic: Seat Belts

Theme: Safe Driving

Subject: Safety

How Seat Belt Works: The technology which is used in seat belts is called as Inertia Reel. It tightens the belt when pulled fast (during a crash) but do not tighten when pulled slowly. This is imple-mented with a centrifugal clutch, which engages as the reel spins quickly. Types of inertia reel type seatbelts, includes:

NLR (No Locking Retractor): Commonly used in recoiling lap belts.

ELR-V (Emergency Locking Retractor - Vehicle sensitive): Composed of a locking mechanism activated in an emergency situation. It is sensitive to the vehicle's motion.

ELR-VW (Vehicle and Webbing sensitive): It allows freedom of movement by the wearer of the seatbelt by means of length-adjusting components that automatically adjust the strap to the wearer, with a locking mechanism that is activated by de-celeration or rollover of the vehicle.

Wearing seat belt saves your money, time and most importantly, your life. Think - Always wear seat belt.

CONSEQUENCES OF NOT WEARING A SEAT BELT

The Moment Of Collision Passenger Without Seat Belt Immediately After Collision

01 02 03 04

No Seat Belt - No Excuse

What's different for Children: Adult seat belts are best for people with an adult bone struc-ture. Children need to use child seats and boosters to be safe. They put them in the right position to use the seat belt prop-erly. The lap strap of an adult seat belt needs to go as low as possible over the stomach. A child needs to be boosted up so the belt fits properly. If not, the adult belt sits too high over the stomach and in crash there is a risk of damage to internal organs as well as sliding under the belt. The child restraint system in-cludes baby seat, booster seat and booster cushion.

Issue # 801

Baby Seat

Booster Cushion

Booster Seat

Five common excuses for not using seat belts & why they are not valid: Seat belts are the most significant safety device ever invented. They provide impact protection, absorb crash forces, and keep you from being thrown out of the vehicle. Yet for all these benefits, some people have lot of "reasons" why they don't wear them. Let's examine a few of them and see why they are not valid.

1 - “I’m a skilled driver - never had an accident before.”

Statistics show that 4 out of 5 drivers involved in accidents never had one before. In addition to reducing injuries and saving lives in accidents, safety belts are comfortable and give you better control. Once the seat belt habit is acquired, you will automatically buckle up every time you get into your vehicle.

2 - "Safety belts are only for longer trips."

Buckling and unbuckling a few extra times is a heck of a lot easier than banging your head against the windshield should you have an accident. Besides, research proves that most motor vehicle accidents happen within home vicinity and at speeds below 40 miles per hour.

3 - "Seat belt will trap me in my vehicle in an accident situation (in case of fire)."

Chances are that if the crash is severe enough to trap you in the vehicle, you will be trapped even if you aren't wearing a belt. Besides, fires occur in only 0.2% of all injury producing acci- dents. Even then your safety belt can increase your chances of escape by keeping you from being knocked unconscious.

4 - "Seat Belts mess up my cloths.”

What is worse, arriving at work with a few new wrinkles, or not getting to your destination at all because you are dead; being thrown from vehicle, or becoming a projectile in side the vehi- cle, which almost always kill people.

5 - "Seat Belts are not for back seat occupants.”

No matter you are occupying back seat, in case of accident you might be thrown onto the front seat, hit the roof, or smash your face into the back of front seats, resulting in serious injuries.

Maintenance of Seat Belts: The material, safety belts are made from, does wear-out over time. It can also get damaged in a number of ways. A damaged or worn out safety belt might break, or stretch too much in a crash. Either way, it may not protect you. Common signs of damage are:

Fraying, from rubbing on fittings

Fading, from UV light

A cut in the material

In such cases, immediate replacement of safety belt is recommended.

If you had another chance, what would you do differently?

ONE PERSON - ONE SEAT BELT

Never use a seat belt for more than one person. Do not travel with a baby or child on your lap shar-ing the belt. You and the child are likely to be badly hurt if the car stops suddenly or is in a crash.

EXEMPTIONS FROM SEAT BELT USAGE

On some typical medical grounds, with the recommendation of physician, the usage of seat belt is exempted. Other circumstances include, driving a vehicle in reverse direction.

Editor: Samir Ahmed Mobile: +92 300 9239440 Email: Samir-Ahmed@live.com; Samir.Ahmed@piac.aero HSE & QA - PIAC Office: +92 21 9045162

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New seat belt design reduces car accidents drastically

Web References: www.thinkseatbelts.com, www.autohowstuffworks.com, www.car-accidents.com, www.inventors.about.com, www.seatbelts.com, www.emmitsburg.net

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