Safe seat belt use for teens and adults
Every passenger should always wear a seat belt! Even if the vehicle you’re riding in has one or more air bags, they won’t prevent you from being ejected from the vehicle, which was responsible for 28 percent of all car crash fatalities in 2006.* Your seat belt will protect you from being thrown from the car. Air bags are designed to work with the seat belt as supplemental protection and they only work in some types of crashes. Seat belts spread crash forces across the strongest parts of our body—our hips and shoulders. But in order to do this, the seat belt must be worn properly.
*NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts 2006
How should I wear my seat belt?
Poor Lap Belt Fit. The lap belt is too high, up across abdomen.
Better lap belt fit.
But the upper body is still not restrained.
Best protection is a lap and shoulder belt. Wear the belt snugly across the center of the shoulder and chest with the lap belt low across hips.
- The lap belt should be flat (not twisted). Wear it low and snugly over the hip bones (pelvis), not across the abdomen. The shoulder belt should cross the center of your shoulder and chest. Remove any slack.
- Place your vehicle seat in an upright position. If you tip the seat back while the car is in motion, you could slide down and out of the belt in a crash or sudden stop.
- If the shoulder belt rubs against your neck read your vehicle owner’s manual for tips on how to adjust the shoulder belt location up or down for a better fit. If it is not adjustable, try changing the position of the vehicle seat or the way you sit.
- Never put the shoulder belt behind your back or under your arm. A shoulder belt behind the back leaves you wearing just a loose lap belt which can cause serious head injuries. A belt worn under the arm can break ribs and cause internal organ damage.
- Never hold a child on your lap and then put the seat belt around both of you.
- Never buckle two people into one seat belt.
- The driver and front seat passenger should each sit at least 10 inches away from a frontal air bag.
- Don’t let passengers put their feet up on the dashboard. That is where the passenger air bag is stored.
- Be sure teens remove their backpacks before buckling up.
Why focus on buckling up?
- Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death in the United States for children from age 2 to 14.* An average of 26 children ages 0-14 were killed in traffic crashes each year between 2002 and 2006 in Washington state alone.**
- You are your child’s role model and research tells us that teens will model what their parents do. So, if adults don’t buckle up, it’s likely that their teens won’t either and, due to their lack of experience, they are much more likely to be involved in a severe or fatal crash.
- It’s the law! The driver is responsible for all passengers under the age of 16. Passengers 16 years of age or older who are not properly buckled up can receive their own ticket.
*NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts Laws Jan. 2008
**WTSC Preliminary Data 2007
