The News Wheel
No Comments

Study: 1-in-3 in Europe Do Not Wear Rear Seatbelts, Have Death Wish

Decrease Font Size Increase Font Size Text Size Print This Page

Ford Inflatable Rear Seatbelt

Wearing your seatbelt is just, at this point common sense. Yet according to the US DoT and NHTSA’s 2014 Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 49% of all fatally injured passenger vehicle occupants in 2013 were not wearing seatbelts, whereas wearing a seatbelt in a passenger vehicle accident carried a survival rate between 81% and 87%. It may come as an equal shock to learn that the phenomena of not buckling up is a global issue; according to a Ford-sponsored survey, one out of three backseat passengers in Europe refuses to wear their seatbelt despite laws that have been in place for years.

Still, the numbers do not lie: according to the European Transport Safety Council, wearing a seatbelt prevented around 8,600 deaths from occurring in the year 2012 alone. The ETSC also reports that about 60% of all fatal accidents that occurred in 2013 were facilitated by the failure to wear a seatbelt.

“Learning to drive is not something which stops when you have passed your driving test,” said Jim Graham, manager for Ford Driving Skills for Life, which has provided training to more than half a million young people globally since first being launched in the U.S.,12 years ago. “Wearing a seatbelt can be the difference between life and death, whether you are sitting in the front seat or the rear seats, whatever age you are.”

Ford Inflatable Rear Seatbelt

Ford Inflatable Rear Seatbelt

Ford sponsored the study as a means to promote its Inflatable Rear Seatbelt, which is available in the new Ford Mondeo.

“The importance of wearing seatbelts cannot be over-emphasised,” Graham said. “Potentially life-saving technologies as the Inflatable Rear Seatbelt are only effective if they’re worn.”