Seat belt styles that disregard life
Using fake latches to trick the car, fastening the seat belt behind your back or placing the belt under your armpit are mistakes that can endanger your life while driving.
Seat belts are a basic feature of every car today. But many people forget about its existence, subjectively, and underestimate the importance of this feature.
Origin of seat belt
In the 1930s, airplanes were equipped with seat belts. 20 years later, Ford was the pioneer in investing in equipping its car models with this equipment to increase the appeal of the product and ensure safety for users.
However, this 2-point belt was not strong enough to eliminate inertia, so the number of people killed in accidents was still not really reduced. In 1959, Nils Bohlin, who was hired by Volvo to research a more improved seat belt, introduced the 3-point seat belt.
This belt has improved most of the disadvantages of the 2-point belt, with the ability to hold the shoulders, chest, and pelvis tightly, preventing the person sitting from being thrown out or thrown forward.
Since then, seat belts have undergone a lot of research and improvement and still play an extremely important role in protecting the safety of people sitting in the car.
How seat belts work
Seat belts are very simple in structure, usually consisting of a belt and a buckle. Based on the collision sensor, information is transmitted to the belt controller to automatically tighten, keeping the user from being thrown out of the seat in the event of a collision.
According to one investigation, drivers can only protect themselves from injury when the car is moving at 5 km/h. When the car is moving at 70 km/h, the passengers are also moving at nearly the same speed.
Therefore, if the car suddenly stops and the person sitting in the car is not wearing a seat belt, by inertia, they will continue to move forward, hitting the steering wheel, dashboard, windshield. Even if the car is moving at high speed, the person can fly through the windshield and continue to collide with other objects.
Thanks to the collision sensor, the belt will automatically tighten, keeping the body fixed on the chair, limiting injuries.
But in reality, many people still have the habit of disregarding seat belts, endangering their own safety and that of others.
Illegal and dangerous ways to tie a belt
Using fake pins to fool the car:Using fake pins to fool the car causes the car alarm system to not sound, but endangers the driver in case of an accident.
Fasten your seat belt behind your backIt is also a driver's response while driving and is very dangerous when participating in traffic.
Keep the strap under your armpits.is the wrong way to wear a seat belt and can be life-threatening while driving.
Even using a fake seat belt, fastening the seat belt behind the back or keeping the belt under the armpit while driving or sitting in a car is not only a violation of regulations but also endangers the lives of all passengers in the car. Because at that time, there are no measures to protect the driver as well as the passengers from collisions and vibrations in the car. The head and chest can be hit against the equipment, the dashboard of the car causing injury, even death.
According to research by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), wearing a seat belt can reduce the risk of death for all people in the car.
People who do not wear seat belts also increase the risk of injury or death for other people in the car by 40%. In fact, in the event of an accident, a rear-seat passenger who does not wear a seat belt can increase the risk of death for a front-seat passenger by 137% compared to a person who does wear a seat belt.
IIHS also found that using rear seat belts reduces the risk of fatal injuries by 58% in sedans and by 75% in SUVs, MPVs and pickup trucks.
Therefore, wearing a seat belt is a necessary habit, even mandatory when using a car.
Not only the driver and front seat passengers, some countries also have regulations requiring passengers in the back seat to wear seat belts while traveling.
Penalties for people sitting in cars without seat belts
According to the provisions of Clause 3, Article 5 of Decree 100/2019/ND-CP, the violation of not wearing a seat belt will be specifically punished as follows:
Fines from 800,000 VND to 1 million VND will be imposed on drivers who do not wear seat belts while driving on the road and those who carry passengers in cars who do not wear seat belts (in locations equipped with seat belts) while the car is moving.
Fines from 300,000 VND to 500,000 VND shall be imposed on persons transported in cars who do not wear seat belts (where seat belts are equipped) while the vehicle is moving.
How to wear seat belt properly
To ensure safety, you must strictly follow the regulations and proper way of fastening your seat belt as follows:
Step 1: When sitting in the car, adjust your back and hips straight. Pull the belt across your body, fasten the car seat belt, and adjust the belt to fit, not too loose or too tight.
Step 2: After locking the car seat belt, adjust the lower belt, pulling it low over the lower abdomen and pelvis, not leaving the belt at the stomach position.
Step 3: Adjust the upper strap so that it crosses your shoulders and torso, diagonally from your shoulders to your chest. Do not loop the strap behind your back or under your arms.