Understanding the way Seatbelts and Child Restraints / Baby Seats work
Seat-belts and child restraints are secondary safety devices and are primarily designed to prevent or minimize injury to a vehicle occupant when a crash has occurred. Seat-belts and child restraints thus:
- reduce the risk of contact with the interior of the vehicle or reduce the severity of injuries if this occurs;
- distribute the forces of a crash over the strongest parts of the human body;
- prevent the occupant from being ejected from the vehicle in an impact;
- prevent injury to other occupants (for example in a frontal crash, unbelted rear-seated passengers can be catapulted forward and hit other occupants).
The actions of rear seat passengers can affect both injuries that they themselves might incur and those that may be sustained by the driver or front seat passenger. An unrestrained rear seat passenger poses a serious threat to any restrained person seated directly ahead of them. A belted occupant will be kept in their seat and thus will reduce speed at the same rate as the car, so that the mechanical energy to which the body is exposed will be greatly reduced. Thus the use of seat-belts by rear seat passengers could not only reduce the likelihood and severity of injury to themselves, but also to drivers and front seat passengers.
