Adults admit to not always using safety belts in the back seat, IIHS survey finds
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The new survey reveals that many rear-seat passengers don't think belts are necessary because they perceive the back seat to be safer than the front. This shows a clear misunderstanding about why belts are important, no matter where a person sits in a vehicle.
Before the majority of Americans got into the habit of buckling up, the back seat was the safest place to sit, and the center rear seat was the safest place of all in 1960s-70s vehicles. In recent decades, high levels of restraint use and the advent of belt crash tensioners, airbags and crashworthy vehicle designs have narrowed the safety advantages of riding in the rear seat for teens and adults.
"For most adults, it's still as safe to ride in the back seat as the front seat, but not if you aren't buckled up," says
While driver and front passenger belt use has been extensively studied, there is not a lot of research on why rear-seat passengers don't buckle up. Prior IIHS surveys of belt use among adults focused on their belt-use habits in general, but not specifically belt use in the rear seat. The latest study fills this gap.
IIHS surveyed adults 18 and older by cellphone and landline between June and
Although safety belts are proven to save lives, more than half of the people who die in passenger vehicle crashes in the
"People who don't use safety belts might think their neglect won't hurt anyone else. That's not the case," Jermakian says. "In the rear seat a lap/shoulder belt is the primary means of protection in a frontal crash. Without it, bodies can hit hard surfaces or other people at full speed, leading to serious injuries," she says.
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